Asian Racing Conference presentations highlight importance of aftercare

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – A number of racing countries around the world have jumpstarted programs to provide for the care of retired racehorses in the past several years in response to a worldwide movement challenging the sport’s treatment of its athletes, according to presentations delivered Thursday afternoon as part of an adjunct to the Asian Racing Conference.

The presentations were part of a three-hour afternoon mini-conference organized by the International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses, a networking group started in 2016 by individuals connected to racing seeking to develop and distribute best practices about aftercare programs and policies. In general, speakers at the panels expressed encouragement that many countries have embraced aftercare programs, but they also acknowledged that racing has a long way to go to counter legitimate criticisms from some animal-welfare advocates.

“There are going to be challenges all the way through, and it will never stop,” said Di Arbuthnot, a co-founder of the movement and the British Horseracing Authority’s organization, Retraining of Racehorses. “But is it worth it? Yes, it is.”

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Racing industries worldwide have been pressed into improving their treatment of horses, in part by a series of staggering scandals that have hit Korea and Australia in the past several years over the discovery of alleged racehorse abuses at abattoirs in both countries. Last year, the U.S. racing industry endured a full year of criticism over a spate of deaths at Santa Anita racetrack in Southern California that triggered protests at tracks across the country.

Presentations by officials of both the Korea Racing Authority and the Japan Racing Association showed that both countries have put in place several programs to provide funding for the re-homing and retraining of racehorses. Both associations, which are responsible for nearly all aspects of racing and breeding in their countries, implemented the programs within 12 months of stating that they would improve their industry’s treatment of retired horses.

Australia also has put in place additional policies and strategies to improve the lives of retired racehorses, said Jen Hughes, general manager of equine welfare for Racing Victoria.

The speakers from individual racing jurisdictions were preceded by a presentation from Simon Cooper, operations director of Weatherbys, which administers the General Stud Book in Britain. The presentation detailed a new mobile product that will provide digital records of a horse’s movement, owernship, location, and racing or retirement status, which is planned to replace the country’s existing paper passport in the new future.

“This is where we have to go in the future, otherwise we are going to be left behind, and have more and more problems,” Cooper said.

The product is expected to improve the “traceability” of racehorses, a concept that is being embraced by IFAR to limit the number of horses that “fall through the cracks.”

Other presentations at the conference focused on the changing environment confronting racing and all other animal-use industries in a rapidly urbanizing world. Roly Owers, chief executive of World Horse Welfare, said that racing’s best way to confront that changing world is to embrace change itself.

“We are very much living in a changing world,” Owers said. “We do have a society that is viewing animal welfare very differently. While we would talk about a partnership, some would talk about exploitation. While we would say ‘use but not abuse,’ some others would say ‘use is abuse.’ This ethical tightrope we are on is not going to be going away. The key is the willingness to change the racing industry’s own practices.”

Eliot Forbes, an independent consultant to IFAR, laid out six strategies that all racing industries must embrace in order to improve their standing in the eyes of the world, a list that included traceability, strategies to adequately transition horses to post-racing careers and networking with other organizations that could aid in the effort. Forbes added that racing does not need to satisfy the demands of its most strident critics, but instead put in place policies and practices that meet the “reasonable expectations of ordinary people.”

“Find a way to connect, find a way to engage, and find avenues to cooperate,” Forbes said.