In the same week two Melbourne Cup runners died, two more thoroughbreds have met a similar fate at country race meetings across NSW.
Four-year-old Rich Love died when he returned to the mounting yard at Grafton in northern NSW after running in the first race on Wednesday.
Like Cup favourite Admire Rakti 24 hours before at Flemington, Rich Love collapsed and died shortly after the race.
An autopsy showed Rich Love suffered a haemorrhage in its chest cavity because of a ruptured aorta.
Rich Love’s death followed the Cup day demise of Rollem at a race meeting at Corowa, near the NSW-Victoria border.
Rollem clipped heels and stumbled, suffering a fractured foreleg.
The horse was humanely euthanised by the club’s vet.
It was the identical fate met by Araldo which was injured when the Melbourne Cup runner kicked a fence after being spooked as the field returned to scale.
Racing NSW’s chief steward Ray Murrihy says a report will determine the full circumstances of both NSW deaths, including any existing conditions that may have been contributing factors.
He says precautions are always taken but injuries and incidents involving horses, as with people, cannot always be prevented.
“We’ve heard of horses suffering heart attacks in spelling paddocks, cantering around with their mates,” Murrihy told AAP.
“It’s not realistic that it’s not going to happen to a human, or a horse or a cow or a pig.
“People who have an agenda seek to draw a conclusion that is reasonably obscure, that somehow you’re able to prevent a horse having a collapse.
“If you take the bridle off any horse and let it out in a paddock, the first thing it’ll do is it’ll gallop. They’re born to run.”
