Horse racing is once again under scrutiny after the death of Celebre d’Allen, a 13-year-old gelding who was fatally injured during Saturday’s Randox Grand National at Aintree. Despite the pageantry and glamour often associated with the event, behind the scenes remains a brutal reality: the continued suffering and death of horses in the name of entertainment and profit.
Celebre d’Allen, trained by Philip Hobbs and Johnson White, fell at the second fence in the 30-fence, four-mile-plus steeplechase and was subsequently euthanised due to the severity of his injuries. The horse’s death is controversial because of his age – with critics arguing he should not have been ridden in the first place.
While the industry was quick to offer tributes, calling the horse “lovely” and “kind,” the tragedy highlights the inherent dangers these animals face, often without meaningful reform to protect them.
His death comes after Willy De Houelle died on the first day of the Aintree Festival.
Celebre d’Allen shows Aintree is unnecessary carnage
The Grand National has long been criticised for its exceptionally high risk to horses. Its oversized fences, long distance, and overcrowded fields create a perilous cocktail that regularly results in serious injury or death. While racing authorities boast of improved safety measures, such as fence modifications and reduced field sizes, horses continue to die.
The British Horseracing Authority and Aintree Racecourse insist they are committed to animal welfare, but incidents like this undermine their claims. In truth, the fundamental nature of events like the Grand National — pushing horses to their physical limits for the sake of gambling and spectacle — makes serious injury almost inevitable.
Celebre d’Allen is not an isolated case.
67 have lost their lives at Aintree in recent years. The racing industry, despite its wealth and influence, has failed to sufficiently address the core issues that lead to these tragedies. While tributes may pour in from trainers and owners, many animal welfare advocates argue that genuine respect for these animals would involve retiring events like the Grand National entirely.
These deaths are not accidents — they are the foreseeable consequences of an industry that prioritises human enjoyment and financial gain over animal lives.
Time for real reform – or abolition
Nina Copleston-Hawkens, Animal Aid Campaigns Manager, said:
It is absolutely heartbreaking that after being ridden in the Grand National Race until he had “no more to give”, Celebre d’Allen has died. To allow a horse of this age to be ridden in the most gruelling race in the country is disgraceful – and the responsibility lies fairly and squarely with the British Horseracing Authority.
It is staggering that the racing industry continues to weave its dishonest fairytale that horses are ‘lucky’ to be born into the racing industry and that they live ‘the best life’. Horses born into this industry live quite the opposite – a dystopian existence where they must exchange their speed on a racecourse or ability to reproduce in order to stay alive. Lives in training are restricted, exploitative and bleak. Once no longer of use, they become vulnerable to an uncertain or horrifying end. If you are against animal-cruelty, then it logically follows that you are against horse-racing – and the Grand National is one of the most disturbing displays of this cruelty.
As long as the racing industry continues to treat deaths like Celebre d’Allen’s as unfortunate but acceptable losses, horses will continue to suffer and die. While the public is urged to mourn the fallen, the broader system that endangers their lives goes largely unchallenged.
Critics argue that if the sport cannot exist without the routine destruction of the very animals it relies upon, then it should not exist at all.
Featured image via the Canary
