The 2022 Cheltenham Festival has been hit by another tragedy after Ginto suffered a fatal injury in the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle.
The Gordon Elliot-trained horse was pulled up towards the end of the race after picking up an injury.
It has sadly since been confirmed that the six-year-old has died.
Racing fans have paid tribute to the horse, who had won his three races this season before the Festival.
One person tweetd: "Heartbreaking with Ginto there."
Another said: "Thoughts with connections of Ginto, would have absolutely hacked up as well." A third added: "Ginto was surely coming to win the race there. Heartbreaking, thoughts with connections there."
Three other runners, Shallwehaveonemore, Mindsmadeup and Born Patriot, also died at the four-day fixture in Gloucestershire.
It is an increase in the last two years with one death in both 2021 and 2020. The Jockey Club and Cheltenham Festival have been approached by Mirror Sport for comment.
Kings Temptation was put down at the 2021 meeting from a total of 402 runners over the four days (0.25%). In 2020 one horse from a total of 462 runners was lost.
Independent research by the Centre for Equine Studies at Liverpool University found horses are nearly five times more likely to sustain serious injury when in a field at home rather than during ridden exercise (i.e. training or racing). The British Horseracing Authority (governing body) inspects the course and confirms it fit to race to ensure that the required very high standards are reached.
In the last 20 years a constant commitment and investment in minimising avoidable risk has seen the number of horses sustaining fatal injuries on racecourses decrease by a third, to 0.2% of runners annually. This means that 99.8% of racehorses complete their races without serious injury, an improvement from 99.7% in 2006.
Cheltenham Racecourse have taken measures themselves to improve horse welfare. Features installed nclude a horse weighing machine, an equine hospital on site and a portable x-ray machine at every meeting.
More than £20million has been invested by British Racing in veterinary activities and figures show that 14,000 horses in training enjoy a high level of care and a quality of life.
