In response to Matthew Sandblom's 'Op-Ed - The Cup of dread' TDN AusNZ have collated the many responses and comments from our industry participants below for ease.
Response from Sarah Edwards
"You do not need to be Einstein to see that there is a correlation, be it direct or indirect, between the increase in international raiders in the Melbourne Cup and the number of significant/fatal injuries that are occurring. There clearly needs to be a significant amount of work done to determine whether it is as a result of the track at Werribee, or the composition of European horses and their lack of training on our harder surfaces. Common sense says it is likely to be a combination of both.
"Regardless, RVL or Racing Australia need to invest. Whether that be a complete renovation of the track at Werribee or increasing the mandatory quarantine timeline, allowing these horses more time to acclimatise and/or, more time for vets to determine otherwise.
"But I do not think we can rest on that. Racing in Australia has a Public Relations crisis on its hands. I’m sure we can all agree that public perception is at an all-time low. The way in which these so called ‘activist’ groups have been able to operate, publishing articles without any evidence to substantiate their claims is, dear I say it, almost Trumpian. We only need to look at the 2016 US election to prove to us that, yes, the unthinkable can happen.
"The worst part, our racing authorities seem to think we are so far from that. People have been calling for the industry to be shut down for years now – and they are winning. We are not fighting back. Racing needs a PR campaign to change public perception in its favour and the first step is education. Educating the public on why a horse needs to be euthanised after a leg fracture, or that horses have heart-attacks just like humans. We need to give them the tools to form a truly informed opinion. I understand this costs money – but if we do not do something now, there will be nothing left to fight for."
