RACEHORSE DEATHS - 'A HAT FOR CHANGE' - ROYAL ASCOT 2016 - PART 1

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• published: 14 Jun 2016
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Wildlife Presenter Anneka Svenska wears largest hat in Ascot history containing over 1000 roses to symbolise equine deaths from horse racing since 2007. Created by milliner to the stars Louis Mariette, the hat hopes to create a conversation to how welfare standards can be improved at British racecourses. PART 2 CAN BE WATCHED HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usl9nJgDBUo People often just blame the steeplechase races for horse fatalities, but surprisingly Ascot has had its fair share of deaths, it actually ranks as Britain’s most dangerous Flat (turf) venue. In 2014, four horses died unbeknown to flamboyant racegoers: Case Statement died from a broken lower leg; Inchila and Sir Graham Wade suffered a fractured pelvis; and Tiger Cliff collapsed and died after the race. Two horses then died in 2015: Stravagante who was destroyed due to a fractured cannon-bone and King Edmund who fell and broke his neck. Anneka and Louis decided to create this hat this year, accompanied by this film talking about why and how horse welfare standards can be improved. The horse racing industry is deeply embedded in the British Culture however there is so much room for improvements. Anneka would like to: • END NATIONAL HUNT RACING. The Grand National and Cheltenham festival races are two of the largest and most dangerous steeplechases which have seen 40 deaths in the last ten years. Cheltenham saw seven deaths this year and five at Aintree. Did you know that approximately one in every 37 horses who starts a season’s racing will have perished by the end of it. They will have died as a result of a racecourse or training injury, or they will be killed after being judged to be no longer financially viable • END TO THE WHIPPING OF HORSES which has been shown to be ineffective and can cause painful welts. The use of the whip urges the horse to go beyond what it is able to comfortably do, and can result in injuries and stress. Norway banned the whip in 1982 and there is no reason why the UK cannot follow their example. In 2014, there were 586 breaches of the British Horseracing Authority rules against excessive whip use. Racing Writer of the Year, Alan Lee, declared in The Times that Royal Ascot is ‘a stage on which jockeys have regularly been guilty of a win-at-all-costs attitude with the whip in the principal races’. • THE SHORTENING OF COURSES. Many horses can suffer stress, strokes and collapse if the course is too long www.greenworldtv.co.uk NOTE: At the time of filming the horse deathwatch was 1357 horses - it grows every day and this number has now far exceeded this Websites to read more about the dangers of horse racing: HORSE DEATHWATCH ANIMAL AID LEAGUE AGAINST CRUEL SPORTS THE COALITION FOR THE PROTECTION OF RACE HORSES #RoyalAscot #RoyalAscot2016 #ahatforchange PR Contact: Kat Baldwyn & Nick Ede of East of Eden E: nick@eastofeden.london T: 02037 456968 www.eastofeden.london