Hansard tragically sustained a deadly harm within the second race of the primary day of the 2026 Cheltenham Competition.
Hansard was racing within the Singer Arkle Problem Trophy Novices’ Chase (Picture: Getty)
Hansard has sadly suffered a deadly harm on the primary day of the 2026 Cheltenham Competition. The tragic information was confirmed by ITV Racing after the second race of the day – the 2pm Singer Arkle Problem Trophy Novices’ Chase. Hansard, skilled by Gary and Josh Moore, was a giant outsider as one among seven runners within the Arkle. He pulled up after showing to injure his leg and the choice was made to place the eight-year-old down after the race.
ITV Racing presenter Ed Chamberlin broke the unhappy information, saying: “There was a tragic postscript within the Arkle, whereas working on the flat, Hansard suffered a deadly harm, he was instantly dismounted, and it was determined that one of the best plan of action was for him to be put down.” And a press release from The Jockey Membership learn: “Whereas working on the flat within the second race of the day, Hansard sustained a deadly harm. He was shortly dismounted, instantly attended by a group of skilled veterinary professionals, and their evaluation concluded that one of the best plan of action for the horse’s welfare was for him to be put down.”
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Kargese received the second race of the pageant, upsetting favourites Lulamba and Kopek Des Bordes. The Willie Mullins-trained six-year-old was ridden by his nephew Danny, who stated after: “I’ve at all times had relationship along with her [Kargese]. Everybody was anticipating us to burn off in entrance… I knew I hadn’t burned the petrol early and the ultimate furlong is the place she did her finest work.
“Willie [Mullins] is only a grasp, it is nice to be a part of that group … these [Cheltenham wins] will not be a given, these are very particular days. I hope for a lot of extra.”
Like all sports activities, horse racing entails dangers, however The Jockey Membership – the homeowners of 15 racecourses within the UK and the organisers of each the Cheltenham and Aintree Festivals – work tirelessly to repeatedly minimise the dangers at its occasions.
Since 2000, the racing trade has invested greater than £63 million in equine welfare, together with veterinary science, schooling and analysis. British racing has an independently-chaired Horse Welfare Board, whose long-term strategic plan ‘A Life Nicely Lived’ is already yielding outcomes.
The speed of fallers in horse races has declined in all the final 21 years and is now simply 1.98 per cent of runners. The deadly harm charge in 2025 was simply 0.22 per cent of 86,300 runners.
Hansard races at Kempton Park in December 2025 (Picture: PA)
A few of the modifications made embrace the altering of markers on jumps on all racecourses from orange to white, following analysis by Exeter College into equine imaginative and prescient, the change to padded hurdles after knowledge discovered this would scale back fallers by 11 per cent and the introduction of an in depth overview course of inside 48 hours of each fatality on a racecourse.
The racing trade repeatedly consults with established welfare organisations resembling World Horse Welfare, RSPCA and Blue Cross to make sure it regularly meets the very best requirements.
Over 80 per cent of individuals say their perceptions of horse welfare change after visiting studs, coaching yards and aftercare centres. Sixty-five thousand free locations for visits to centres develop into out there throughout Nationwide Racehorse Week, which this yr takes place from August twenty second to thirty first.
With 5 million attendees in 2025, horse racing is the second-most attended sport within the UK behind soccer.
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