Uploaded September 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
A devastating video summary, featuring just some of the 149 deaths (at least) that occurred on Australian racetracks over the 2020/21 racing year. A detailed Deathwatch 2021 Report can be viewed at horseracingkills.com/issues/deathwatch
At least 149 horses were killed on Australian racetracks in the last racing year. This equates to one horse suffering a painful, life-ending injury in the name of gambling profits every 2.5 days.
Key Findings
- At least 149 horses were killed on track for a number of reasons most commonly for catastrophic front limb injury (41)
- On average at least one horse will die on Australian racetracks every 2.5 days
- At least six horses died from cardiac causes
- At least five horses died from bleeds
- The state with the highest recorded deaths was NSW (63) followed by VIC (32) and QLD (29)
-Fifty-three of the horses that were reported to have bee killed had been raced as a two-year-old
-Nine horses were only two years old when they died on track
-Seven horses are still listed as ‘active’ on the Racing Australia website at the time of writing, even though some have been dead for almost a year
-A GIPA by AJP NSW found trackwork deaths are almost as frequent as raceday deaths - these are rarely reported and therefore highlight how grossly understated our death toll actually is
-All states failed on several occassions to upload race replays where a horse died. Victoria was the worst culprit, editing or failing to upload replays on at least ten occassions
A devastating video summary, featuring just some of the 149 deaths (at least) that occurred on Australian racetracks over the 2020/21 racing year. A detailed Deathwatch 2021 Report can be viewed at horseracingkills.com/issues/deathwatch
At least 149 horses were killed on Australian racetracks in the last racing year. This equates to one horse suffering a painful, life-ending injury in the name of gambling profits every 2.5 days.
Key Findings
- At least 149 horses were killed on track for a number of reasons most commonly for catastrophic front limb injury (41)
- On average at least one horse will die on Australian racetracks every 2.5 days
- At least six horses died from cardiac causes
- At least five horses died from bleeds
- The state with the highest recorded deaths was NSW (63) followed by VIC (32) and QLD (29)
-Fifty-three of the horses that were reported to have bee killed had been raced as a two-year-old
-Nine horses were only two years old when they died on track
-Seven horses are still listed as ‘active’ on the Racing Australia website at the time of writing, even though some have been dead for almost a year
-A GIPA by AJP NSW found trackwork deaths are almost as frequent as raceday deaths - these are rarely reported and therefore highlight how grossly understated our death toll actually is
-All states failed on several occassions to upload race replays where a horse died. Victoria was the worst culprit, editing or failing to upload replays on at least ten occassions
