A second racehorse has died at Cheltenham Festival. An animal welfare charity has called the death an "unnecessary tragedy".
Mindsmadeup is the 71st horse to die at the Cheltenham race week since the year 2000, and follows the death of Shallwehaveonemore who died on the first day of racing. Mindsmadeup was an 11-year-old bay gelding who had competed in 44 races over its lifetime, reports Gloucestershire Live.
A spokesperson for Cheltenham Racecourse said: “Sadly Mindsmadeup sustained an injury in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Chase. He was immediately attended to by our highly experienced veterinary team, but after treatment, it was determined that it was necessary to put the horse to sleep. Our thoughts are with his connections.”
READ MORE: Cheltenham Festival 2022: Horse Shallwehaveonemore dies on first day of races
Another horse, Born Patriot, fell on Wednesday and was treated and assessed on the course. Their condition is still unkonwn and we are waiting for further updates.
Chris Luffingham, director of external affairs at leading animal welfare charity the League Against Cruel Sports, has commented on the second death of a horse at the Cheltenham Festival after Mindsmadeup was put down after falling in today’s final race.
He said: “The death of Mindsmadeup today at the Cheltenham Festival – the second death in only three days – is incredibly upsetting for everyone. But it is not an isolated incident. An astonishing 71 horses have now been killed racing at the Cheltenham Festival since 2000.
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“For any horse to lose its life in the pursuit of a ‘sport’ is an unnecessary tragedy but this sickening death toll points to the need for new and much tighter safety measures to be implemented – we are calling for an independent regulatory body to be created with horse welfare as its only concern.
“We will also be calling for the ban on the whip which forces horses to go beyond what they are comfortably able to do resulting in deaths, injuries and stress.”
The League Against Cruel Sports is a campaigning charity that built support for the original 2004 hunting ban and are vocal critics of the Cheltenham Festival.
