Mike Dillon: Thoroughbreds best cared for animals on planet

Admire Rakti looked to be travelling comfortably in the Melbourne Cup when he started to wobble. Photo / Getty Images

The harsh way of viewing the sad collapse and death of outstanding Japanese stayer Admire Rakti in Tuesday's A$6.2 million Melbourne Cup comes through the old saying that when you have livestock you also have dead stock.

The kind view is that horses, even the world's most pampered thoroughbreds, can have heart attacks relaxing in their paddock.

The bleeding hearts have called for racing to be restricted. The fact is thoroughbreds are the best cared for animals on the planet.

And that comes from common sense - when you're racing for the sharp end of six million dollars it's obvious to even idiots you are going to do everything to maximise your animal's health.

And, no, it wasn't the race itself that put too much pressure on the horse to cause the heart issues. Rider Zac Purton said only seconds before Admire Rakti started to feel awkward in his action at the 800m he felt "fantastic".

"We were going to win for sure," said a frank Purton as he struggled with the shock of it all in the Flemington weighing room.

Although the pace had been furious - the fastest Melbourne Cup since 1990 - the real pressure hadn't come on. Admire Rakti was still travelling comfortably within himself when he started to wobble. There may have been a genetic heart defect from birth. These things can happen, and of course had it happened to the favourite in a maiden 1200m at northern Victoria's Echuca on Melbourne Cup day no one would ever have heard of it.

The animal activists kicking up the most dust are the same ones who a decade ago forced racing to lower the height of the hurdles in Melbourne and by doing so made the hurdles twice as dangerous because horses - who are natural jumpers - took the obstacles too cheaply.

It's difficult to justify excessive censorship, but was it necessary for television to show a distressed Admire Rakti struggling with an exploding heart and collapsing and dying in his tie-up stall. Who gained what from that. Do we show people in their last moments at the oncology ward at Auckland City Hospital? No, for very good reason.

And Mike Moroney's horse suffering a broken leg after the Melbourne Cup was simply a tragic accident, assisted by the stupidity of a crowd member.

Once again it needs pointing out that thoroughbreds, station hacks, show jumping horses, children's ponies and draught horses break legs in their paddocks and simply walking around at home. So do humans, but only rarely can a horse's broken leg be mended.

Statistics prove that horse racing is more dangerous to the jockeys who ride them than to the horses.

It's worth remembering.

So is the fact that every bucket list should include attending at least one Melbourne Cup. The world's biggest and best outdoor party.

And, don't forget the A$70 million it contributes to the Victorian economy in less than a week.