SIMON Knapp’s unconvincing response ‘Horse injury rate has decreased’ to Fiona Pereira’s recent letter was simply the rhetoric of the racing industry.

It was a feeble attempt to erode the strong argument by Ms Pereira in favour of replacing the British Horseracing Authority in its role as race horse welfare regulator.

Quoting the meaningless figure of ‘injury rate… decreased by over a third’ with no mention of what the actual figure is, and not stating how many horses are killed due to racing each year (actually hundreds), he made a poor effort to play down the extent of the welfare problems.

Many race horses are beaten with whips, others break their neck and legs when falling in races.

Dene Stansall Animal Aid