Over 80 O'Leary racehorses have died since 2015, 'Panorama' finds

A BBC 'Panorama' investigation found that, over six years, 86 of the 500 horses owned by Michael O’Leary died. File picture.

Over one in six racehorses under the ownership of Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary have died since 2015.

In those six years, 86 of the 500 horses owned by Mr O’Leary have died, according to a BBC Panorama investigation broadcast on Monday evening.

Mr O’Leary told the programme that the horses that had died had suffered serious or life-threatening injuries, either in training or on the racecourse, and thus their rehabilitation was not an option.

However, Hannah Donovan, a veterinarian and animal behaviour expert, told the programme that given “the veterinary care we have and the developments we have to be able to look after horses in the high standard that we have in Britain and Ireland, no you wouldn’t expect” such a high death rate.

4,000 horses slaughtered

That revelation was one of many contained in the programme, which following an investigation via freedom of information had established that the majority of 4,000 horses slaughtered in Britain and Ireland over the past two years had come from Ireland.

Reacting to that news on Monday, the Department of Agriculture, which has overarching responsibility for the Irish horseracing industry, said that it had “not seen the programme”.

A spokesperson said that they understood the programme “refers to controls at a slaughter plant in the UK, which is a matter for the UK authorities”.

They said that horses that are moved from Ireland to the UK for slaughter require veterinary animal health certification, and no such animals had been certified for such movement in 2019 and 2020.

“The slaughter of equines for human consumption is permitted under EU and UK law and is carried out in premises approved and licenced by competent authorities in member states,” they added.

'Welfare important'

Meanwhile, Horse Racing Ireland, the sport’s governing body, told the BBC that it places great importance on the welfare of the people and horses in the industry, but did not respond to the broadcaster regarding questions about the number of racehorses being slaughtered.

The Panorama investigation included footage filmed inside one of the UK’s biggest abattoirs, Drury and Sons, by campaign group Animal Aid, and captured dozens of former racehorses being slaughtered, the majority of which were from Ireland.

Three of them, including High Expectations and Kiss Me Kayf, had once been trained by currently suspended trainer Gordon Elliott at his stables in Co Meath.

“None of those animals were sent by me to the abattoir,” Mr Elliott told Panorama.