HMS Seahorse grew to become the second horse of the 2026 Cheltenham Pageant to die after Hansard’s deadly harm on day one.
HMS Seahorse has sadly died (Picture: Getty)
HMS Seahorse has tragically died on day two of the 2026 Cheltenham Pageant after struggling a fall within the third race on Wednesday. He’s the second horse to die at this 12 months’s competition after Hansard suffered a deadly harm on day one. HMS Seahorse, educated by Paul Nolan, fell on the final hurdle within the 2.40pm BetMGM Cup Handicap Hurdle.
In a press release learn out by ITV Racing’s Ed Chamberlin, Cheltenham stated the eight-year-old was “instantly attended to by a staff of professional vets, however sadly sustained an harm on the remaining hurdle and couldn’t be saved.” They added: “Our heartfelt condolences are with connections.” Favorite Jingko Blu stormed to victory within the Handicap Hurdle as jockey James Bowen sealed his second win of the competition.
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Jingko Blu’s coach Nicky Henderson stated: “He is not probably the most simple horse, he is at all times a bit creeky, however he ran race within the Relkeel right here on Trials day and to go and win a race like this he is earnt his corn for the 12 months anyway that is for certain.
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 constantly minimise the dangers at its occasions.
Since 2000, the racing trade has invested greater than £63 million in equine welfare, together with veterinary science, training 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 the entire final 21 years and is now simply 1.98 per cent of runners. The deadly harm price in 2025 was simply 0.22 per cent of 86,300 runners.
HMS Seahorse racing at Curragh Racecourse in 2022 (Picture: PA)
A few of the modifications made embody 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 information discovered this would cut back fallers by 11 per cent and the introduction of an in depth evaluation course of inside 48 hours of each fatality on a racecourse.
The racing trade frequently consults with established welfare organisations akin to World Horse Welfare, RSPCA and Blue Cross to make sure it frequently 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 turn out to be obtainable throughout Nationwide Racehorse Week, which this 12 months 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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