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In days of old – unless a bookmaker – you could only bet on a horse to win. You hoped for the best. Perhaps you bet with a pure heart. You certainly have a passion for ‘the sport of king’ and may have gone to a race meeting or two. The only person who would be hoping the horse you bet would lose was the bookie. If you had bet on an outsider even Honest Joe would have been shouting louder than most and had a smile on his face as your horse is led into the winners’ enclosure.

Times have changed.

With the introduction of the betting exchanges in 2000, the landscape changed. Punters like you and me could lay horses to lose on ‘the machine’ and overnight the layman could be a bookmaker without a licence. In many respects this was a good thing for sport. It gave the established bookmakers something to think about. No one should be afraid of competition although we are for obvious reasons.

We shouldn’t be afraid of technology and the advancement of modernity. However, it can open up a can of worms if not ethical implications. It can test the character and worth of a person which may bring philosophical considerations. You may be wondering what I am talking about but betting on a horse in a race has both ethical and welfare issues. We have seen with the start of the Cheltenham Festival that two horses died on the first day. One horse sadly suffering from a heart attack while another from a fractured leg.

As a layer on the exchanges you have the opportunity of betting in-running. So if you see a horse shoot ten-lengths clear you may think it is a ‘certainty’ and bet odds on it will win. Moments before the start of the race it was available at odds of 10/1. You have the option to bet pre-race or once the race starts in-running if you wish.

The choice is yours.

It’s an unsavoury topic of conversation and I don’t imagine you have ever thought about this statement as it is unpalatable for most people, especially animal lovers.

‘Would you lay a critically injured horse to win money?’

I said it had welfare, ethical if not philosophical underpinnings.

With being able to lay horses to lose you may have someone watching the race from a live stream or even high in the grandstand, waiting for a horse to falters. Perhaps the favourite looks to be travelling well and the next moment it tragically breaks a leg. To most watching, it is a sickening sight. Often the TV camera will change angle but all on course will witness a harrowing scene. Within minutes the screens are placed around the horse for privacy and the on-course vet(s) will assess the injury and make the difficult decision of whether the horse should be euthanised.

However, there are a few punters who would take advantage of this situation. If quick to press the button and lay the horse to lose you could be quids in. The quickest person to press the lay button may win several thousand pounds.

It leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.

Now there will be many who rightly say they laid the horse to lose because they thought it was slowing. It’s plausible. It would be questionable that someone would admit they laid the horse to lose because they had seen it breakdown. However, I can guarantee that a horse could be stricken, laying on the floor, unable to get up and someone, given the opportunity, would take the money available and pocket it.

At the expense of the horse’s life.

I certainly wouldn’t want to gain from something so tragic. Witnessing an injured horse while watching the Cheltenham Festival (or any other meeting whether National Hunt or Flat race) is hard to stomach.

When I bet on a horse I do it for good reasons. I would rather lose money than see a horse injured. Very few people would think differently but what I am saying is that not all people are alike. Greed makes people do all manner of disgusting things. It isn’t just illustrated in laying a stricken horse to lose. It is pervasive in all aspects of life. It results in all manner of inhumane actions which are orchestrated by humans.

You have only to watch the news.

I can’t help wonder what the person thinks who makes money from disaster. True many will do so unwittingly but if you pressed that lay button because you clearly saw a horse was injured I wonder how you could spend that money without some aspect of guilt.

How far would you take a bet?

Would you win at any price?

War Admiral is an American Thoroughbred racehorse, best known for winning the American Triple Crown in 1937 and his Match Race with arch-rival SeaBiscuit.

 

Sired by one of the greatest racehorses of all time, Man o’War, War Admiral won 21 out of 26 starts during his career and was named 1937 Horse of the Year. Memorable victories include the Washington Handicap, Pimlico Special, the Whitney Handicap, the Jockey Club Gold Cup and the Wilson Stakes.

 

War Admiral’s surprise victory in the Kentucky Derby helped propel him to become one of the biggest stars of the era. He followed that achievement up by winning the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes, becoming only the fourth horse to win the prestigious Triple Crown.

 

His place in racing history was cemented with the Pimlico Special match race against arch rival Seabiscuit. The November 1938 head-to-head contest was billed as ‘the Match Race of the Century’ and was headline news in the U.S. It was the first time the two fierce competitors would meet, Seabiscuit ended up winning by four lengths, setting a new track record.

 

After leaving the track, War Admiral had a hugely successful career as a stud and was named the Leading sire in North America for 1945.

 

He sired 40 stakes winners including Blue Peter, Busher, Busanda and Bee Mac. Descendants of note include Zentatta, Swaps, Buckpasser and Cigar. He features eight times in the pedigree American Pharoah, the 2015 Triple Crown winner.

 

War Admiral was owned by prolific breeder Samuel D. Riddle, who also owned his father, Man o’War.

 

Record-breaking Thoroughbred Makybe Diva is one of the most famous and accomplished racehorses in Australian history.

 

The British-bred, Australian-trained racehorse is the only winner of three consecutive Melbourne Cups, (2003, 2004, 2005) and has also claimed victories in the Australian Cup, BMW Stakes, the Werribee Cup and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

 

Twice named Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year, she is the only horse to win both the Sydney and Melbourne Cups in the same season.

 

Sired by double Irish Classics winner Desert King, Makybe Diva was foaled in 1999 in the U.K before being shipped to Australia with her dam, Tugela. She was initially trained by top trainer David Hall, before switching to Lee Freedman in 2004 after Hall moved to Hong Kong.

 

Makybe Diva made her race debut July 2002 as a three-year-old, coming fourth at Benalla, Victoria. She was upgraded to a four-year-old when she ran again three weeks later and secured her first victory. It was the start of a six-race winning streak and Makybe Diva began to emerge as a racing talent.

 

After a shaky start the 2003-2004 season, she came from the back to win her first Melbourne Cup in November 2003 by a length and a half. She repeated the twice more, setting history in 2005 by becoming the first ever horse to claim victory three times and in consecutive years.

 

After glory on the track, Makybe Diva was retired and started breeding. She produced four foals in total including Rockstardom, who as a yearling, sold at auction for $1.5million AUD.

 

British Thoroughbred racehorse Flying Fox was the 1989 English Triple Crown Races and three times French leading sire.

 

The last horse raced by the 1st Duke of Westminster, Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, he was the fourth generation of an impressive male line. Flying Fox was sired by Orme a dual Eclipse Stakes winner, who was sired by Triple Crown winner Ormonde. His dam, Vampire, was a high-strung mare and there were fears her foal would inherit her dangerous temper.

 

While a difficult juvenile to handle, Flying Fox achieved great success under John Porter, the best trainer of the Victoria era. As a two-year-old he won three of his first five starts including the New Stakes and the Stockbridge Foal Stakes in 1898. As a three-year-old he was undefeated and became only the 8^th ever U.K. Triple Crown Champion. His win in the 1899 Epsom Derby was in tragic circumstances though, after rival Holocauste shattered his leg while leading the race.

 

The Duke died that same year and Flying Fox was bought at auction for a record 37,500 guineas by French sportsman Edmond Blanc. Blanc had intended to race the four-year-old, but Porter refused to continue training him, so was instead sent to stud at Blanc’s Haras de Jardy horse breeding centre at Marnes-la-Coquette, near Paris.

 

There he had huge success as a stud and sired a classic winner in his first crop, Ajax. He went on to produce numerous other winners and was named Leading sire in France in 1904, 1905 and posthumously in 1913.

Celebrated French thoroughbred Sea-Bird is one of the most revered and accomplished racehorses of all time and held the highest Timeform rating ever awarded, 145, until Frankel’s 2012 rating of 147.

 

Named British Horse of the Year in 1965, he is most famous for his wins in two of the biggest races in the world, the Epsom Derby and the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe.

 

His pedigree showed little sign of the greatness to come. While his sire was French Derby runner-up, Dan Cupid, whose sire was the famous American Thoroughbred, Native Dancer, his dam and damsire never won a flat race in their careers.

 

Born in 1962, Sea-Bird was trained by Etienne Pollet at Chantilly, France and started as a two-year-old with wins in the Prix de Blaison at Chantilly and the Critérium de Maisons-Laffitte. He lost his third outing, the Grand Critérium, to his stablemate Grey Dawn, a race that would be his only career defeat.

 

As a three-year-old, he won all five starts including British Classic the Epsom Derby, where he defeated Meadow Court, Irish Derby and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner.

 

After two seasons he retired and headed to the Kentucky farm of American breeder, John W. Gallbreath, who had paid $1,350,000 USD for the rights to five-years of stud duty. Sea-Bird enjoyed a successful career as a stud and sired, amongst others, double French classic and 1974 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winning mare, Allez France and Champion Hurdle winner, Sea Pigeon and Miss Oceana, who sold as a broodmare for a record $7million USD.