Letter: National disgrace

THE only surefire bet at the Grand National is that of all the losers, it’s the horses who lose the most (your report, 16 April). Synchronised and According to Pete are just the latest in a long list of horses to suffer premature death courtesy of the horse- racing industry.

The thoroughbreds forced to take part in the Grand National are accidents waiting to happen: their legs are too long and fragile, they’re forced to run while still young and growing and they’re whipped and pushed to breaking point.

What sort of person, upon reflection, can find it amusing or ethical to bet on exhausted animals, knowing that some will crash face-first into the ground and career into one another on the deliberately punishing and hazardous course, and as we’ve seen again this year, not all leave the track alive?

More than 400 horses are raced to death in the UK every year.

Many of the ones who survive to the end of their racing days are then discarded like used betting slips – cast off to be killed, butchered and sold off piece by piece.

The Grand National is a national disgrace.

Ben Williamson

Peta

Southwark Street

London