With racing jurisdictions shutting up shop around the world, including in Macau this weekend, globetrotting administrator and racing steward Fin Powrie tells Matt Stewart that there are cautionary tales for Australia’s racing future.
Something unexpected splashed through my Twitter (X) feed this week. A dozen or so retired racehorses, frolicking on a beach on an Indonesian island called Nihi Sumba.
According to “Nature Is Amazing” the island “functions as a haven for retired racehorses to live out the rest of their lives running free along the beaches”.
It seemed like a children’s fairytale and proved only partly true. The island has its own human/horse therapy industry and, yes, retired thoroughbreds play along the shore.
(If all horse rehoming was like this, racing’s social licence would be at zero risk).
Surrounding these idyllic images is a region terminally out of harmony with horse racing.
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