Another Melbourne Cup has been and gone and now the controversy regarding invasive veterinary checks is reaching a peak.
Though keeping a dignified silence on the matter, we appear not to be seeing Charlie Appleby, John Gosden or Andrew Balding take part in races in Victoria of late. Aidan O’Brien did return this year after a break but had his ante-post favourite Jan Brueghel taken out after a ‘shadow’ appeared on a scan.
That shadow, according to Victoria Racing Club vets, puts the horse at a heightened risk of injury. It is by no means proof of an ailment. Their reputation is everything and they are succumbing it seems to pressure from animal rights groups who simply won’t stop until the Melbourne Cup is cancelled for good.
For plenty of Northern Hemisphere trainers, it may as well already be.
Vets Missing Obvious Facts
O’Brien, usually quiet and certainly careful and dignified in his comments, was outspoken about this matter. He called the decision to withdraw Jan Brueghel ridiculous and quite rightly so.
“We thought he was a massive handicap blot!”
Aidan O’Brien tells @MCYeeehaaa his frustrations over Jan Brueghel’s Melbourne Cup withdrawal… pic.twitter.com/waUs2pMzHg
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) October 29, 2024
There is one major thing the VRC, mostly its vets, seem to be willingly overlooking. British and Irish horses travel to the USA, Hong Kong, Dubai and, much more pertinently, Sydney. They do this without problems, certainly without the number of injuries provably going up.
The fact that the horses travel from Europe to Victoria is not the issue.
Injuries could be coincidental. There is nowhere near enough data to support the fact that those coming from Europe are at a heightened risk. The checks they undergo are invasive and, more to the point, are used to simply withdraw runners with no say going to the bill-paying owners and trainers.
Surely, this is simply coming from the right place? Surely the VRC vets have only horse welfare in mind? Well, something isn’t sitting right.
The Cognitive Dissonance of the VRC and Fans
Before the current vet checks came into force, there was already talk that some of the powers that be in Melbourne were a little sick of our lot going over and winning their best race. There was no proof of that of course.
Clearly, not everyone involved in Victoria thinks that way either. Marketers still attempt to make the Melbourne Cup popular on these shores, attempting to get our trainers to take part and now offering a golden ticket to the race for the winner of the Ebor Handicap at York.
The vet checks and attached comments start to make the picture look less savoury in this regard. There is also the fact that Cieren Fallon was given, and take this in, a $100,000 fine for a winning ride in Melbourne for William Haggas.
Some of the admittedly under educated social media commentators from Australia on this issue appeared tone deaf after the Melbourne Cup. Lots of comments suggested that the local horses handled fast ground fine and ours just didn’t.
They forget, as do the VRC it seems, that many of their top performers start in Britain or Ireland and are simply bought to race in Australia.
Something leaves a sour taste to many in this part of the world, despite loving well natured competition in sport with Australia. They seem to not want “our” horses to go there and win the race, but they do want to buy them cheap over here first.
Many commenting on these issues on social media were aiming “sour grapes” jibes at Britain and Ireland. That is to forget that such comments actually started here, given that it became very clear in recent times that fans in Australia were sick of our horses winning their flagship race. It seems they’ve done something to stop that.
Worldwide Competition Shouldn’t Be Avoided
Over in the States, especially during the Breeders’ Cup, their attitude is that they want the best horses to compete. They don’t care whether they are from California, Kentucky, New York, England, Japan or Mars. That’s the way it should be.
What we have in Australia now is something akin to the boring jumps versus flat conversation we have in Britain. We should not have such a parochial view on racing. Our best horses, our Group 1 horses, should be competing against each other around the world.
Australia sends a selected few to Royal Ascot now and again, as well as sending runners to Hong Kong. The fact is though that they don’t go to the States, to wider European races nor even to Dubai in March to compete against the UK, Ireland, USA, Japan and France.
For a combative sporting nation, their horses are being wrapped in a lot of cotton wool.