In one of the most disrespectful, extraordinarily inaccurate headlines ever sent to print, The Guardian Newspaper in England has slammed our export-racing business.
Have a look at this and you be the judge.
Winx’s brother among Australian racehorses killed for meat in South Korea.
That was the headline.
I kid you not. And 10s of thousands of people read it over the weekend.
I fell off my chair when I saw it because I know that Winx family. And what I found upon fervent investigation actually is fraudulent reporting.
A horse by Street Cry, named Bareul Jeong, who shares the same sire as Winx, was reported as being sent to a knackery in South Korea. No relation what-so-ever to her through the damline, which is the ONLY way a family tree is created in the thoroughbred world.
The story said, and I quote verbatim: “The brother of the Australian racing legend Winx is one of thousands of exported thoroughbreds killed for meat in Korea under conditions the RSPCA has called “very distressing”.
The story did raise an alarming issue for Australian Racing authorities to delve into claiming that a large amount of Aussie horses exported to South Korea for racing end up being slaughtered for human and animal consumption.
PETA, alongside our own RSPCA want the practice of exporting race horses to South Korea to be halted. And they have let the administration of Racing Australia know about what is happening.
And it is traceable.
South Korean authorities keep a record of horses sent to the slaughter house and since 2014 approximately 35 horses have been sent to the meat packers.
Road To Warrior and Dynamic Tank are two others mentioned in the story. On the South Korean Studbook when sent to be slaughtered, a race horse’s page reads: “death for meat processing”.
Sadly, at the moment, once horses are purchased to race abroad, they no longer come under the jurisdiction of the Australian racing body. So nothing can be done.
What we can do, is slam The Guardian for their misleading, sensationalised headline that was written ONLY to embarrass the Australian racing community.
