I mean terrific as in filled with terror. It’s the first time I’ve noticed public opinion rise against this bizarre pageant of money, cruelty and lust we call the Melbourne Cup. I congratulate Sam de Brito on his fantastic opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Cup – that will do me. Please read and share it.
Picture from the Illawarra Mercury of the remains of the day, 2014 Melbourne Cup
de Brito’s observations are balanced and passionate. It’s well worth the read. It evokes another wonderful article from some years ago by Marike Hardy, The Melbourne Cup: It’s a truly revolting spectacle published in The Drum.
I’ve been both heartened and surprised by the many posts in Facebook over the last few days as people describe their saddness at the death of two horses in 2014’s carnival. Yet so many horses die each year as a result of the racing industry. Have people never thought about how many horses are bred, how many hopes are pinned on how many hours of training? I’m only glad that people are starting to think now. What can we do about our relationship to horses? Where does the money go?
Here are some facts about horse racing in Australia
Here’s a link to an interesting blog about retiring horses. They don’t mention the wastage during the training period. Only a small percentage of horses actually make it to be professional runners, just like humans. Imagine all those Little Athletics Club children. How many of them become full time athletes? What happens to all those racehorses
But for the utter last word on The Melbourne Cup, watch Kenny.
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Another serious flaw in the Geleen research you linked to is her methodology. In short, basing the study on only 37 trainers, in a pool of thousands, who were hand-selected by the researcher and invited to participate, does not sound research make!
http://horsesfordiscourses.wordpress.com/2014/10/15/controversy-corner/
Thanks, Isa, I’ve followed horsesfordiscourses with interest. I agree with your comments that at least people are starting to consider their assumptions about horseracing in general. It’s great when humans start to think!