I hate this subject as much as the next person - and in an ideal world it would never be mentioned and we could all go on enjoying our Enid Blyton books and mugs of hot cocoa.

The slaughter of stock is alas, an uncomfortable reality of this "sport of kings".

I remember a few years ago when the press focused on the Macau racing population after photos of horses being slaughtered hit the mainstream press via The South China Morning Post. I am not going to include those photos here but they are certainly not hard to track down on the web. Hong Kong has also received its share of bad press about the number of horses it euthanises each year. Then there was the huge outcry from the States over Ferdinand being euthanised in Japan (one good thing that came from that was the decision to include a term in stallion contracts to allow the vendor the choice to bring the horse back to its home country should it fail at stud or be retired).

Beijing is centre stage at the moment with their reported cull, but don't fool yourself and think that China/Asia is the only demon and the West - US, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland etc - have unblemished records when it comes to putting down animals. Sure, I'm certainly not familiar with another case where 600 horses were reportedly euthanised in one go but that doesn't mean a huge number of horses don't meet the same fate around the world each year. The reason is simple - racing relies on young fit horses who win races and we simply breed way too many horses to find homes for them all afterwards.

Whilst various countries will now step forward and make various accusations against others (the underlying message "we wouldn't do that") just step back for a moment and ask yourself - Where do YOU think all the horses go in your local jurisdiction when they stop racing (if they ever get to the track in the first place)?

I'm as appalled by yesterday's news as anyone (given I just finished writing a research report on China and had absolutely no idea this might happen I am even more distressed - equally for the people whose livelihoods have been destroyed, and in a country with such a massive gap between rich and poor and the difficulty of securing work in the urban centres if you have a rural background ... then it is even more unsettling) but I really do think we need to examine this issue from a global stand point - not just a local one.

It's headline news. The opportunity is there for various Industry groups to try and determine a way of managing this issue GLOBALLY going forward. This is about a lot more than slaughtering horses - this goes to the very heart of the sport and how it is managed and promoted.

My guess? Everyone will just pick up their Enid Blyton books and hope the nasty stories about horses being killed will go away.

Meanwhile I'm going to go and get out a photo I took in Penang recently of one of the many thoroughbreds that 'work' on the beaches there offering pony rides. Seeing the familiar Australian brands on chestnut and bay shoulders as I walked along the beach that morning made me think how awful it was that such well bred and fine featured thoroughbreds who had been destined for the track had ended up in the $2 end of the tourism market.

I was arrogant that day. Those horses have a job and are well looked after; better than tens of thousands of others.