Horse racing - cruel?

As an avid sports lover I could sit watching most sports for hours. A game played well by good players and officials is a great spectacle. I also like individual sports and sports involving animals. But I am increasingly uneasy about horse racing.

Can you imagine Usain Bolt racing down the last 50 metres with some trainer lashing the hell out of him with a bull whip trying to get him go faster. Ok maybe a world record and immortality, laced with welts and stinging cuts, but hardly edifying?

Is it fair that dumb animals get whipped persistently and consistently just to earn money. Surely the animals are going as fast as they can - why cruelly whip them? Not to mention the spurs lashing into their midriffs. Not really sport is it? I think now that we are nearly into 2010 it is time to ban this sport. Not least for the cruelty but also for the gambling and hardship it also causes. Time to call a halt and leave the animals in peace ...

think you could be right jayo, did you see that horse mccoy won on in cheltenham, whipped the life out of it from half way round, not to mention the horse dropping dead in last couple of hundread yards in english national. Disgracefull

Yaw - I think you'll also see that attendances are way down too. I think people are realising that it is not really a sport at all and is really equine cruelty.

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Yaw - I think you'll also see that attendances are way down too. I think people are realising that it is not really a sport at all and is really equine cruelty.

Like Paddy, I've been saying this for years. Cow racing, horse racing ... it's all the same. Pointless, boring and cruel.