The Dark Side of Horse Racing

[firlandsfarm]

I've not watched the prog. but from most of your comments it appears to follow the usual trail of sensationalist journalism ... find a bad apple and present it as if all the apples from that farmer are bad. It's not just the BBC, it's the whole media. I'm a landlord and I get very pissed off every time I hear of a 'dodgy landlord' story or article but never stories or articles of dodgy tenants! But what do you expect from the LL driven BBC? Horse owners are rich and therefore must be bad people, just like landlords!

[to75ne]

I've not watched the prog. but from most of your comments it appears to follow the usual trail of sensationalist journalism ... find a bad apple and present it as if all the apples from that farmer are bad. It's not just the BBC, it's the whole media. I'm a landlord and I get very pissed off every time I hear of a 'dodgy landlord' story or article but never stories or articles of dodgy tenants! But what do you expect from the LL driven BBC? Horse owners are rich and therefore must be bad people, just like landlords!

all true but a story about a decent trainer/owner or indeed landlord will not attract many viewers. people seem to like the dark, dirty, dishonest side of life.

[Trader Pat]

I've not watched the prog. but from most of your comments it appears to follow the usual trail of sensationalist journalism ... find a bad apple and present it as if all the apples from that farmer are bad. It's not just the BBC, it's the whole media. I'm a landlord and I get very pissed off every time I hear of a 'dodgy landlord' story or article but never stories or articles of dodgy tenants! But what do you expect from the LL driven BBC? Horse owners are rich and therefore must be bad people, just like landlords!

Its a shame so many people posting to the thread start off by saying "I didn't watch the programme but....." and then proceed to grind whatever axe is nearest to hand.

Maybe watch the programme then give an opinion on it rather than dismissing the message because of the messenger. Not everything needs to be a political conservation.

[decomez6]

BBC is ‘getting things done ‘
The consequences of Brexit are to be felt on the very 1st day of pandemic’ freedom day .
Now BBC has gone into the archives and found some low hanging fruits just to remain relevant .
Highlight the weakness of an industry that the population love to hate , sensationalise and politicise animal cruelty to win some brownie points . This will surely buy them some re -organisational time before the axe fall on the countless companies relocating outside the uk to remain in the eu …. Paddy/ betfair from Gibraltar to Malta.
Why not cover those stories and ithe incompetences portrayed by some government institutions .
Let sir Attenborough and RSPCA run animal cruelty awareness campaigns while BBC focuses on real problems of the pandemonial corona brexit.

[Trader Pat]

I rest my case

[decomez6]

The jury is still out …this is a point of interest as we speak

https://youtu.be/iBwtC_Fs51U

[Trader Pat]

The jury is still out …this is a point of interest as we speak

https://youtu.be/iBwtC_Fs51U

I'd have the same issue with that as I had with the Panorama programme... why give people who want to abolish horse racing a platform? This part of the industry can be cleaned up without invoking a nuclear option.

Going back to the programme itself I think a lot more could be done to rehome these animals but I don't have a problem with them being sent to an abattoir as a last resort, its how these particular horses were disposed of that I have the problem with. It wasn't humane or professional.

[firlandsfarm]

I've not watched the prog. but from most of your comments it appears to follow the usual trail of sensationalist journalism ... find a bad apple and present it as if all the apples from that farmer are bad. It's not just the BBC, it's the whole media. I'm a landlord and I get very pissed off every time I hear of a 'dodgy landlord' story or article but never stories or articles of dodgy tenants! But what do you expect from the LL driven BBC? Horse owners are rich and therefore must be bad people, just like landlords!

Its a shame so many people posting to the thread start off by saying "I didn't watch the programme but....." and then proceed to grind whatever axe is nearest to hand.

Maybe watch the programme then give an opinion on it rather than dismissing the message because of the messenger. Not everything needs to be a political conservation.

Pat, I wasn't meaning to comment on the content of the programme more the style of presentation. Such programmes do not interest me because they do as I said, they find a small number of instances and then try to tar the whole industry with the same brush.

[firlandsfarm]

all true but a story about a decent trainer/owner or indeed landlord will not attract many viewers. people seem to like the dark, dirty, dishonest side of life.

In a way it's a form of gossip on speed!

[Trader Pat]

I've not watched the prog. but from most of your comments it appears to follow the usual trail of sensationalist journalism ... find a bad apple and present it as if all the apples from that farmer are bad. It's not just the BBC, it's the whole media. I'm a landlord and I get very pissed off every time I hear of a 'dodgy landlord' story or article but never stories or articles of dodgy tenants! But what do you expect from the LL driven BBC? Horse owners are rich and therefore must be bad people, just like landlords!

Its a shame so many people posting to the thread start off by saying "I didn't watch the programme but....." and then proceed to grind whatever axe is nearest to hand.

Maybe watch the programme then give an opinion on it rather than dismissing the message because of the messenger. Not everything needs to be a political conservation.

Pat, I wasn't meaning to comment on the content of the programme more the style of presentation. Such programmes do not interest me because they do as I said, they find a small number of instances and then try to tar the whole industry with the same brush.

I don't think the programme was insinuating that this was an industry wide problem though. They shone a light on a particular abattoir because they had footage of what was going on there and they asked a few wider questions of the industry as a whole but it wasn't a hatchet job.

[firlandsfarm]

I don't think the programme was insinuating that this was an industry wide problem though. They shone a light on a particular abattoir because they had footage of what was going on there and they asked a few wider questions of the industry as a whole but it wasn't a hatchet job.

OK, good to hear. Maybe I got the wrong impression from the other comments.

[greenmark]

This may be biased but it disturbed me.
And I'm not posting it to antagonise, merely to add to the debate.
Make of it what you will.
https://www.animalaid.org.uk/the-issues ... -industry/

[Trader Pat]

This may be biased but it disturbed me.
And I'm not posting it to antagonise, merely to add to the debate.
Make of it what you will.
https://www.animalaid.org.uk/the-issues ... -industry/

Disturbing read.

I would probably be for all the action points at the end of the article IF if I had nothing to do with horse racing and didn't make money from trading it. I suppose that's the dilemma though, speaking for myself sometimes its hard not to be a hypocrite in life.

[greenmark]

This may be biased but it disturbed me.
And I'm not posting it to antagonise, merely to add to the debate.
Make of it what you will.
https://www.animalaid.org.uk/the-issues ... -industry/

Disturbing read.

I would probably be for all the action points at the end of the article IF if I had nothing to do with horse racing and didn't make money from trading it. I suppose that's the dilemma though, speaking for myself sometimes its hard not to be a hypocrite in life.

No hypocrisy at all. This is a mature industry. All the participants know the score. The issue for me is the presentation of the industry to the public, but also the lack of oversight to protect both horses and jockeys. It looks a bit archane and in the case of the National simply barbaric,
A friend of mine in the bookie industry told me the Grand National was a loss leader. The bookies make zip from it. Why invoke that carnage merely to suck in punters over the next year?
Oops, gin talking. Oh well, I've reviewed the post and I'm pressing submit because I believe everything I've said.

[Derek27]

This may be biased but it disturbed me.
And I'm not posting it to antagonise, merely to add to the debate.
Make of it what you will.
https://www.animalaid.org.uk/the-issues ... -industry/

Disturbing read.

I would probably be for all the action points at the end of the article IF if I had nothing to do with horse racing and didn't make money from trading it. I suppose that's the dilemma though, speaking for myself sometimes its hard not to be a hypocrite in life.

Nothing disturbing at all about that. It's a lot of claims but zero evidence or reasoning to support it.

Concerning the whip, whenever somebody says it's cruel and should be banned without acknowledging that it's also an essential safety device, they are demonstrating their ignorance. 'Hands & Heels' races are races for apprentice jockeys where they're not allowed to use the whip for encouragement purposes but still carry it for emergencies like when a horse veers sharply.