Should Hors Horse Racing Be Banned?

At 3.00pm, on the first Tuesday of November, every year, for approximately three minutes and 20 seconds, Australia is brought together by the “race that stops the nation”, The Melbourne Cup. The Melbourne Cup is a great tradition in Australia and has been run for the past 150 years. In 2014, Admire Rakti was greatly backed to win the Melbourne cup however collapsed after finishing last in his stable and dying not long after, due to a heart attack. Additionally another horse, Araldo, was spooked on its way back to his stable where he fractured his leg after kicking a fence and was put down after many attempts to save its life. The reaction to the deaths of these two horses has caused much debate on whether the sport horse racing should continue, however I believe that it should not be banned.
By 1810, in Sydney horse racing had become well established. It was the first sport to be covered live on Australian radio. Phar Lap captured a nation’s imagination with his rise to dominance. Makybe Diva won three consecutive Melbourne cup races. Black caviar winning 23 consecutive races. All these events have made a place in Australia’s history. It is hard not see that horse racing has impacted Australia immensely. It is the third most attended spectator sport in Australia and drew two million admissions to 360 racecourses throughout Australia in 2009/10. Australia behind the U.S has the highest number of horses starting races each year and it has the most racecourses than any other country. So why would we ban a sport that is so loved by the nation? An event like the Melbourne Cup is not just about the horse racing either. It has become a social event that is celebrated as a public holiday, a day people dress in their best and drink