Why Zack Polanski hates horse racing

On Friday, the second day of the Grand National Meeting at the Aintree Racecourse, Gold Dancer won the Mildmay Novices’ Chase. The racehorse also lost its life, breaking its back while jumping the final hurdle. 

The incident could not have come at a worse time for the horse racing industry. That same morning, the Sun published comments made by Green Party leader Zack Polanski in 2024, which called for a ban on horse racing – comments he has not walked back. Emma Slawinski, chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, stated: ‘Gold Dancer is the latest victim of this heartless spectacle, which flies in the face of animal welfare.’

What Polanski and Slawinski fail to grasp amid their ‘progressive’ outrage is that they are very unlikely to be Gold Dancer’s chief mourners. His handlers, his owners and, above all, his jockey – Paul Townend – are far more distraught than they are.
 
Just a day before Gold Dancer’s death, another horse – Impaire Et Passe – fell heavily at the second-last fence. Paul Townend was, again, the unfortunate rider. Though Impaire Et Passe was thankfully unharmed, his groom was nonetheless observed leading her horse away in floods of tears. While the media obsess over the alleged cruelty of wealthy racehorse owners, we forget that the people working in horse racing do so primarily because they love horses.

Horses bred for racing are among the best-treated animals in the world. They are not ‘fattened for slaughter’ but raised to the pinnacle of health and athleticism. Legendary jockey AP McCoy once quipped that, while he himself once sat in a hospital emergency department for six hours with pneumonia, ailing horses in his yard are attended by a vet within minutes. It is also often overlooked that most racehorses go on to enjoy retirement. Red Rum, widely considered the greatest steeplechaser of all time, lived for 17 years after his final race before passing aged 30.

Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty, to his credit, defended horse racing in the wake of Polanski’s comments. He detailed both the economic impact of a ban and raised the practical question of what would happen to all the horses. But reducing this to an economic question cedes unnecessary moral ground. It bypasses the fundamental truth that horse racing is not in any way immoral and does not need to be justified by balance sheets or revenue.
 
The concerns raised by Polanski and his ilk are notably selective. If the Green leader truly cares about animal welfare, why does he remain silent on the 30million farm animals that were slaughtered without pre-stunning in 2024? I can only guess it was because it failed to present an opportunity to attack a distinctly British cultural pastime. 

Vital aspects of British culture are under assault from all sides at the moment. Family farms face unprecedented pressure from inheritance tax, while pubs struggle under rising business rates, national insurance and energy bills. Horse racing is already burdened by increased gambling duties and stricter affordability checks. The very institutions that make our culture distinctive – those that connect us to a Britain that was here before us – now find themselves constantly under threat.
 
There is an elitism behind Polanski’s politics. A sense that the working man in the UK cannot be trusted to decide how best to live his life or how to spend his money. For people like Polanski, horse racing is loved by all of the wrong people, from the gentry who own the horses to the working classes who bet on them.

Polanski tweeted at US singer-songwriter JMSN in 2018, after spotting a horse on some of his merchandise. ‘You’re one of my favourite artists of all time and these t-shirts are dope’, wrote Polanski. ‘But as a vegan, I’m not keen on wearing horse riding stuff. Rethink your logo please?’ Who has the time – or lack of real concerns – to be offended by some jockey-esque branding? Obviously, Polanski does. Yet it’s this same entitlement we now see applied to ordinary Brits who, apparently, need the state to rescue them from their distasteful pleasures. 
 
On Easter Monday, I attended Plumpton Racecourse with friends. It was filled with people enjoying the long weekend with loved ones – a reminder of how enjoyable a day at the races is for so many. It is this that Zack Polanski has set his sights on bringing to an end.

Jake Weston works at the Academy of Ideas.