Horseracing fans slam ITV for ‘shocking decision’ following heartbreaking death of three horses during Cheltenham meet

SOCIAL MEDIA users were outraged when ITV News chose to broadcast the moments before the death of three horses at Cheltenham racecourse on Sunday.

One shot even included the winning horse of the Holland And Cooper Handicap Chase, Abuffalosoldier, near collapse as his jockey Sean Bowen was still onboard and just finishing his post-race interview.

GettyAbuffalosoldier collapsed under jockey James Bowen[/caption]

Moments after ITV Racing presenter Alice Plunkett had spoken to the jockey, the horse was filmed displaying worrying antics before the cameras quickly cut away.

Despite being attended by the on-course vets, the seven-year-old gelding became the second fatality of the day after the Ben Pauling-trained Bangers And Cash collapsed earlier in the same race.

Less than an hour later, a third tragedy struck when the Matthew J Smith-trained Napper Tandy fell in the Greatwood Hurdle – one of the weekend’s biggest races.

The distressing footage of all three tragedies was then broadcast a SECOND time to ITV Teatime News viewers, alongside an interview with an Animal Rising protestor who believed in putting a stop to the sport altogether.

Both editorial decisions came under fire from X, formerly known as Twitter, users.

One commenter said: “What on earth is ITV News doing showing a replay of a horse having a heart attack mid-race? What purpose does that serve? Shocking editorial decision.”

Another added: “Why the F*** are ITV News running a story supporting banning horse racing? You lot literally air it on ITV Racing.”

ITV is one year into a three-year deal to show free-to-air coverage of UK horse racing until the end of 2026.

But they still chose to broadcast the ‘distressing’ news segment, which was introduced by anchor Shehab Khan with a warning.

He said: “A warning, you may find some of the images in Chris Scudder’s report upsetting.”

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The report shown to Teatime viewers included shots of the horse fatalities magnified and ringed to highlight the fatalities.

Unhappy viewers described the segment, which was produced by a different editorial team to the ITV Racing coverage earlier that day, as ‘unwatchable’ and ‘distressing.’

An ITV Racing interview with Liam Kearns, a veterinary surgeon for the Jockey Club, was also part of the report.

Kearns said: “It’s a high-risk sport for the horses and the humans.

“Every time there’s an exertional event there is a risk. In the welfare situation all these horses are thoroughly checked out at home.

“They won’t come to the races unless they are in good shape.

“We strive to continue to reduce avoidable risk in our sport. All factual data relating to fatal injury rates in British racing can be found at www.horsepwer.co.uk and the overall fatal injury rate in Jump Racing is 0.42 per cent of runners.”