These are the first horse deaths at the Grand National since 2012
Animal Aid, the U.K.’s largest animal rights group, is calling for change after two horses were put down due to injuries sustained during this year’s Grand National — a three-day horse racing event that features a course with 30 jumps — and a third horse suffered a fatal neck injury during Saturday’s race.
According to Huffington Post U.K., the course, which is located in Aintree, England, is “the most grueling course in the British racing calendar.”
On Friday, horse Forest des Aigles and Crucial Role were both euthanized after the first horse broke their foreleg during a race and the other suffered a devastating fall on the course. The next day, Up for Review was “brought down” on the first fence of the race and died from a fatal neck injury, reports the BBC.
Animal Aid claims that the Grand National “has now killed 52 horses since the year 2000” and that they want “the government to remove the British Horseracing Authority from their role as race horse welfare regulator and replace them with an independent body who will take serious action in stopping the huge annual toll of horse deaths on British racecourses.”
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The animal rights group also calls for an all-out ban of the three-day event on their website.
According to the BBC, the Grand National course is reviewed every year by the British Horseracing Authority. The same review will happen this year and will include a look into what elements caused the deaths of the three horses.
This is the first time since 2012 that a horse has died at the Grand National.