According to the Daily Mail:
"Animal welfare groups have reacted angrily today after three horses died on the first day's racing at the Cheltenham Festival.
Scotsirish, Garde Champetre and Educated Evans all died on the course which has claimed the lives of nine horses in the last five years.
Scotsirish and Garde Champetre were both racing in the gruelling cross-country handicap chase while Educated Evans had been entered into the final race of the day - the two-and-a-half mile novice chase - when disaster struck.
Scotsirish, 11, and Educated Evans, 7, broke hind legs while Garde Champetre, 13, suffered a serious injury and had to be destroyed."
The Daily Mail reports Animal Aid's Horse Racing Consultant, Dene Stansall as noting:
"The race in which Scotsirish and Garde Champetre were killed should never have taken place, given that it was run on dangerously firm ground...."
