The ex-trainer whose plan for the rehoming and retraining of retired racehorses has been rejected by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) believes pressure from the European Union may ultimately be a route to improving the sport’s animal welfare standards.
Ger Hussey has said he and the group Horse Welfare Within Racing Ireland are “regrouping” after HRI’s dismissal of a plan designed to address wastage rates and failures of traceability when some horses finish racing.
Hussey’s proposal, submitted to HRI in October, revolves around making owners and trainers responsible to notify authorities when horses are finished racing. Animals can then be logged and assessed as to suitability for new careers. Initial funding would come from the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund, before levies being applied to finance a central hub.
However, HRI’s equine welfare and bloodstock director, John Osborne, poured cold water on the ideas and said that the central suggestion of a 200-horse facility to co-ordinate retired horses for onward distribution “is not something we are contemplating”.
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Osborne added that levies ran counter to how racing is based on “stimulated spend” and would prove to be a “lose-lose” for horses.
Hussey said on Tuesday he and others are working on “more byte-size” suggestions to be presented to Irish racing’s governing body, although any substantial progress on tackling wastage rates within racing could eventually have to come from outside the sport.
“Ultimately, I think pressure from Europe will be the only way it will make the whole industry clean up its act,” he commented.
“They have recently elected a commissioner for animal welfare in Europe and that may bring about some change. Other than that, I can’t say. It’s probably just stricter animal welfare protocols throughout Europe that may put the pressure on,” Hussey added.
Hungary’s Oliver Varhelyi is the first EU commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, a controversial appointment according to some animal welfare groups who have nevertheless welcomed the creation of such a position.
Hussey also said he awaited the potential appointment of a new minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in any new Cabinet on the back of Friday’s General Election.
“It could be pressure from Europe on the DAFM [Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine] that will eventually trickle down to HRI and exert pressure there. It’s going to be hard to know how the cards will fall with a new government and so on. It could depend on if there is a new Minister for Agriculture and what their take will be on that,” he said.
Last summer’s RTÉ Investigates programme into the Shannonside Foods Ltd facility shone a spotlight on failures of animal traceability and how in 2023 more than 1,400 thoroughbreds went through the Straffan plant. Operations at Ireland’s only equine abattoir were suspended after the programme.
Hussey insisted he has no regrets about going public with his proposals, although he’s disappointed by the failure of more prominent figures within racing to back him.
“Probably the biggest factor for us in a campaign for better welfare is we don’t have a big name on our side. There’s been a total absence of any trainer, big-name jockey, or big-name owner, and I think that would be a game changer if that could happen.
“We have to look further into that and see if anyone comes on board. As someone made the remark to me, to be highly successful as a trainer, to some point you probably have to ignore all that and keep the head down, keep training winners, keep buying horses at the sales, so it’s a difficult one,” he commented.
There has been no response to his proposals from either the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine or the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board.
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