hesi

Yes, not just very well written, but also articulated by Elen Nicholas. She certainly showed up Becks Nairn's muddled narrative. Agree that it is time to take the gloves off and front foot some of these issues

Elen Nicholas Becks Nairn I wish you spoke in your interview about positive ideas and outcomes for the issues you spoke about in the industry instead of just saying “racing should be banned”. You made it sound like you’re bitter after having an unfortunate accident being kicked in the head and you failed to help re-home those 14 Standardbreds that were unfortunately pts, would this not have been a perfect opportunity to use your voice to gain more government support to fund a more positive outcome for any neglect cases in the future? I have the absolute privilege of riding these wonderful horses, and I can tell you that riding down onto the track (that is harrowed and rolled to perfection every day so that they have a nice surface to work on) the horses half the time literally squeal with excitement as they step onto the track - they have their ears pricked up, they work around in company and they’re always marching out to work and happy to go back to their stables / paddocks to have their breakfast after they work.. - these aren’t animals beaten and trembling in fear as you’re describing. They are fit, professional athletes that love their jobs. I can tell you I meet more people with ‘anxiety’ than horses. I would applaud you if you tried to help weed out the ‘bad eggs’ of a racing industry where horses were being mistreated but I think when you tar the whole industry with the same brush you loose credibility and also - what’s next? Horse riding is cruel? Because let’s be honest, riding your dressage horse or your happy hacker is unnatural. Humans, with our eyes on the front of our skull- like a predator - getting up onto the back of a prey animal is not natural. So where do you draw the line??? 1h Reply Author Becks Nairn Elen Nicholas tell me you didn’t watch the interview with out telling me…. 1h Reply Elen Nicholas Becks Nairn listened to the whole thing you spoke about your experiences of working within the industry. Mainly it was about harness racing in the South Island. You spoke about horses being injected with vodka, ping pong balls in Australia. I see issues with the facilitators of the actions rather than the industry as a whole. 1h Reply Elen Nicholas Becks Nairn I have also followed your Facebook page for years due to interest in your work dissecting horse carcasses, I originally thought you were a vet. But the hypocrisy caused me to clock out about 6months ago.

Becks Nairn's post Becks Nairn 5h · Why did dog racing go before horses? Firstly I’d like to say, I’m not pro or against anything. I think horse racing can be ethical if they would listen to changes. What I would like to talk about today is my experience with having owned an ex race dog and ex race horses. Dyna varsity was a pretty good dog, he won around 40k on the race track. At the time my daughter tayla was training greyhounds and I am a curious sort so I visited the kennels. I was really impressed at how friendly all the dogs were and excited to see me. I saw puppy’s and young dogs in large paddocks playing with their pack. Throughout taylas career I visited the kennels many times and witnessed happy animals regularly being treated with PEMF blankets and therapeutic devices and all the basic needs. Anyway Vance and I locked eyes, I said to tayla who is that handsome boy!? She said he was likely to retire soon and I didn’t miss a beat, I said I’d love to have him….a few months later I was bringing him home. Did he piss in my house a few times….yes he did. Retraining them to pet life does requires patience but he was worth it. Kiwikiwi hounds organised a fun day for the dogs to all get together at the race track and I was instantly intrigued…..how would Vance react to going back to the racetrack with a bunch of other dogs? He had a blast! I witnessed a bunch of dogs all having a brilliant time, no one that I saw looked to be terrified to be there. Vance’s biggest downfall and what caused his ultimate death was his love of racing things, particularly cars. I’m not going to sugar coat things, dogs naturally chase things, I have a whippet now and she does the same without being trained to do so. Vance was the best dog for our family and we were all devistated after 3 wonderful years with him. He went out doing what he loved, it was instant and for that I am thankful. Dogs are predatory in nature and they hunt for their food so the experience of the race track for them is based more on a more positive basic instinct. Horses on the other hand are prey animals and so aside from playing the only time they would be running as a herd is away from danger or a predator. Anyone who’s involved in racing can argue this but the behaviour they display pre racing is anxious. You only have to look at the incidents of lung bleeds and ulcers to see the results of stress on the horses. Are there good trainers who prepare their horses well and are calm ofcourse! There are also bad eggs in dog racing. But I have taken ex race horses back to the race track and their anxiety is palpable, they physically shake. Obviously some of the older very successful exrace horses are paraded around on race days and they cope fine….they are the exception. I have been to competitions as a sport horse beside race tracks and allot of the ex race horses are losing it. Comparing prey and predators experiences will be called apples and oranges but I’m giving my experiences anyway. Dog racing was low hanging fruit, the public loves dogs….it was easy to gain public support to shut it down. The greyhound industry actually has the highest success rates of rehoming, tracebility and accountability in racing, period! They have been transparent and have done everything the government asked of them. More dogs die annually in pounds than in dog racing. In horse racing they are forced to have zero accountability, no numbers on horse put down post racing are required. Even in rehoming, the rehomers are stifled by NZTR to put down unsuitable horses. They have zero pathways for the rehomers to take unsuitable horses out of circulation. In HRNZ they are spouting 90 percent success rates in rehoming and the other 10 percent retained hy industry, I have evidence this is a blatant lie and they are willfully covering the truth. Horses need to be put down post racing, it’s the ugly truth….there aren’t enough homes. Be transparent with the public and if society decides that’s not an acceptable collateral damage then so be it. It doesnt effect me if all racing goes but its a slippery slope to all animals from there….. think about the biggger picture. The government calls the race industry a sunset industry behind closed doors, they just won’t give it to you straight because that’s what politicians do.

Well, we will watch with interest what the 2025 foal crop will be and comment on the interest of breeders for the 25/26 season

I have no idea what is in the contract, so I don't comment about what might or might not happen, that would be pointless

I don't understand all this negativity towards Entain either. People commenting on it are not aware of the details of the contract signed with TAB NZ. What is known for sure, without Entain's 5-year commitment, the payout to thoroughbred would have been half what it is now, and then comment about the industry being in a poor state and having no future would have been accurate

Separate issue also there with the poly track and the anti that seems to have developed against them

The other thing on this, horses don't magically appear, there is a time lag. Entain underwriting the industry was announced in June 2023, so we are looking at 3 years plus before any horses bred as a result of any renewed confidence in the industry start appearing. Latest foal crop numbers might help But yes, 4-6 horse fields is not sustainable

What concern is this of anyone in Racing. Entain is responsible for this, they are contracted to it and it is their area of expertise. It seems people will complain no matter what. We had wagering in NZ handled by the Racing Board/TAB, and everyone took aim at that, and rightly so, because they were out of their depth by comparison. Now we have a specialist operator in place, and guess what, people are still bitching Racing people need to get their own house in order, to facilitate the moves Entain has made, rather than telling Entain how to suck eggs

It is mid-Winter, let's reserve our judgment until the Spring racing really kicks in

I wasn't aware of that if it is in fact the case. Regardless we are talking about a huge increase in payout to thoroughbred, guaranteed for 5 years. Factor into that the way results were trending down in Q1 22/23, and that should be a cause for optimism within the industry.

I'm surprised there are so many people that are so negative towards the NZ racing industry. Perhaps there aren't, just a small number making a lot of noise, giving the perception that it is a lot more. In Entain's first year, thoroughbred stakes increased 20 mil, from 70 to 90 million. And they are guaranteed to go up 2-3 million a year through till 2028. Sure there are problems with non-proactive management, tracks, scheduling and where that stake money should go, top end or bottom. These are all issues that can be fixed The biggest issue for racing, is gross betting revenue, which by far is the biggest challenge.

Colourful woman if you check her background. Taxidermist for 18 years, does horse dissection, but no formal veterinary or pathology qualifications, which has been raised as a concern in the past

Duncan Garner has been doing this podcast for just over 2 years now. Very opinionated and you will note in the interview, when he could get a word in lol, all he really wanted an answer on, was how many horses were going to petfood each year. Irresponsible journalism to increase his numbers

I wonder to what extent they will stand up and demand better for the thousands of dogs that are maltreated and eventually euthanised every year in NZ. Bit of a case of Greyhounds being the low hanging fruit