The Melbourne Cup might be my favourite day on the Australian sporting calendar full stop.
But unfortunately, the events of Tuesday’s cup and the previous eight years have shone the spotlight on heartbreak on race day.
I by no means am a lefty when it comes to the Melbourne Cup and you won’t see me holding a sign that reads #nuptothecup outside my local parliamentarian’s office. I love the cup and enjoy what it brings to my city every year.
But unfortunately, it’s suddenly become a very anxious sight for just over three minutes on that first Tuesday in November. I admire the calibre of horses and the equine history that each winner makes itself a member of.
Every year I look back and watch a replay of the great race the night off to see where my horse has finished and how it faired after the 3200m. This year nothing changed I watched my horse Twilight Payment hold the lead and won the race.
The replay I watched was on a national broadcaster and as the final 400 metres of the race were run a close tight angle of the leader was shown. I didn’t realise why at the time but soon realised it hid the vision of top weight Anthony Van Dyck crippled in the background.
I understand that vision was distressing and it was probably wasn’t in viewing audience’s best interest to witness that moment, but are we not just hiding the real race, the event that has become more than just a great race but more just brushing over the fact that we will be here next year at the same time and the same venue to probably witness another horse suffer a similar fate.
I might lose a few readers here with some facts but stay with me. Since 2013 five horses have died either during or shortly after the race. The top weight in 2014 and recently 2020 have both carried 58.5 kg and struggled to pull up after the race. The only contrasting statistics that all five horses have is that they are bred overseas in Europe or Asia, making them face a mandatory quarantine in Melbourne’s Werribee facility.
The international horses that race in the cup make up at least 50 per cent of the cup’s overall field. This year’s winner was bred in Ireland and travelled across.
Racing Victoria issued a statement earlier in the week that “no stone would be left unturned” in finding the reason for the death of Anthony Van Dyck, but what happened in previous years with Admire Rakti in 2014 or Regal Monarch in 2017? Why is this allowed to happen again and again in such tragic circumstances?
The Melbourne Cup is undoubtedly one of the hardest races in the world and the prize and glory that comes along with it is idolised worldwide. That’s why Bart’s 12 cups and Makaybe Diva’s three cups are etched not only into equine history but Australian sporting history.
(Pat Scala/Racing Photos via Getty Images)
But we can’t keep overlooking the obvious the reason that heads drop even after they had money on the winner. Unfortunately, that was me when I heard that Anthony Van Dyck had been loaded into an ambulance and was being examined by a vet.
The scenes of Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup are changing the face of the race forever and unfortunately are moulding the race for the next generation into a vastly different theatre that anyone is close to coming to terms with. How do you explain to a child that your horse has died in the most simplified of Melbourne Cup sweeps?
When the Melbourne Cup had run its course I was looking for the storylines that would emerge, whether it’s a jockey winning in his first-ever ride in a cup or an owner winning his seventh. This was not the editorial I thought I would write and I didn’t want to, but the race is changing.
The people of Australia and all lovers of the cup deserve an answer and an explanation on what caused the death of Anthony Van Dyck in the most open and upfront way that is possible and steps must be taken to ensure this never happens again. The race will never stop due to the amount of revenue it brings, but enough is enough when it comes to cruelty.
People are sick and tired of deaths being pushed under the rug and forgotten again but accountability needs to be taken by the VRC to fully understand the events and bring an end to the tragedy.
sheek
Roar Guru
Lachlan, Yeah, but raiders have been coming here since 1993, ie, overseas trained & ridden. And it's only been in say the past decade & a half, or so, that many have had a prior run in Oz. Yet despite this, we have had 7 break down & be destroyed in 7 years. It's a terrible trend for the Melbourne Cup if it were to continue. All thoroughbreds now carry lesser top weights than they ever did, & most race much less. Yet the joint injuries are increasing. Why is this? I think it mandatory every overseas racehorse has at least one run here before the cup. It's as much in their interest & to their benefit, as for everyone else. IMHO, the Melbourne spring carnival is unrivalled for the variety of quality races & good prize money it offers, pretty much anywhere else in the world. From the Turnbull Stakes Saturday, right through to the Sandown Classic Saturday, you have seven Saturdays & plenty of midweek meetings all offering top quality races of variety in distance & weight requirements. I think as a writer in the SMH said, along these lines, there are people in the industry who are very smart & it is up to them to determine what is going on.
Nick
Roar Guru
It's not a sporting event. It's a gambling event. It is entertainment that exists purely to gamble. If you couldn't gamble on it, horse racing would be dead and buried in a week. Now, with that in mind, it is unacceptable to needlessly sacrifice horses for your gambling desires. These aren't "Just injuries involved in every other sport". These injuries lead to premature death. Break your leg in football and you get to live.
Lachlan Mitchell
Roar Guru
Yeah don’t think it’s animal cruelty as yet , but if international horses continue to die that is more than cruel .
Lachlan Mitchell
Roar Guru
Creatures of Habit ?
Lachlan Mitchell
Roar Guru
Yeah agreed the track doesn’t suit an international raider - there are tougher regimes that include the horse running up hill to build muscle obviously doesn’t compensate for the struggles of the race
Lachlan Mitchell
Roar Guru
The major connection was the international raider on wetter tracks and softer compared to Australian harder tracks with added weight might be too much
sheek
Roar Guru
What I am struggling to understand, is why so many horses have been put down in the past 7 years, including 2 topweights. Admire Ratki & Anthony Van Dyk both carried 58.5 kgs (9st 3 lbs). Going back to the 70s, this was a good horse's weight, but not a great horse's weight. Why are modern racehorses joints so brittle compared to 50 years ago? What has changed in the breeding business to make modern racehorses more susceptible to broken joints? Especially as they carry lighter top end weights & race less often.
Cuzziebro
Guest
Most race horses that don’t want to race end up in the knackers yard
Dean
Guest
I agree with the sentiment of this article. Something clearly needs to be done to better prepare the foreign horses for the Cup which is often on a track a lot harder than what European horses, in particular, are used to. I think the foreign trainers tend to want their training surface to be softer to keep the horse in good shape, but it might be detrimental in not preparing them for a hard racing surface. Hopefully VRC can get to the bottom of it.
Dean
Guest
When a jockey comes off the horse, the horse keeps racing. If they didn't like it, they would stop and turn around.
Simon G
Roar Rookie
It's a sporting event, there are injuries involved just like in every other sport. Unfortunately you can't put a horse in a cast or a knee brace and let it recover. The humane thing to do is to euthanise. Is it sad? Yes Is it animal cruelty? No I'm sure there will be people who say that it's not the horses choice to race, but if a horse doesn't want to race, then it wont, Chautauqua is a classic example of this.