At the Cheltenham Festival, a second horse, HMS Seahorse, has died after falling at the final flight in the BetMGM Cup Handicap Hurdle. Despite immediate veterinary attention, the horse could not be saved. This follows the death of another horse, Hansard, earlier in the week, marking the 80th horse fatality at the festival since 2000. The Jockey Club, which manages the racecourse, emphasized its significant investment in equine welfare, noting that only 0.22% of over 86,000 runners in 2025 were fatally injured.

However, animal welfare advocates, including the League Against Cruel Sports, have condemned the ongoing fatalities, calling for a public boycott of the event and urging the government to implement stricter safety measures and ban the whip in horse racing. The League’s chief executive described the death toll as “simply staggering” and questioned why such losses in horse racing do not provoke the same public outcry as in other sports.