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Man Appears To Force Horse To Drink Champagne After Majorca Race

Man Appears To Force Horse To Drink Champagne After Majorca Race

The man seemed to force the horse to drink nearly the full bottle

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

A video has emerged that shows a horse being forced to drink down a full bottle of champagne after winning a prestigious race on the Spanish island of Majorca.

The footage was taken after the Manacor Grand Prix on Monday (12 October), and has been labelled 'appalling' by an animal welfare group.

The horse is called Helen Llinartix and in the video a man can be seen holding the poor creature's reins as the man pours nearly a whole bottle of booze down its throat.

Even during the video, the horse looks very uncomfortable, and can be seen to pull its head away at one stage.

Then, the man pours the final dregs of the sparkling wine over its head. He then kisses the horse on the nose as the watching crowd cheers and claps in the background.

Solarpix

Speaking about the incident, Assaib - the Balearic Islands' Animal Association - said: "This idiot made the winning horse Helen Llinaritx drink a bottle of champagne.

"The person in the video has been sanctioned at European level for doping several competition horses.

"He has also been banned from approaching horses. We have already lodged a formal complaint with the relevant authorities for animal mistreatment."

In a follow up statement, they later added: "We would like to express our indignation over what happened following the Manacor Grand Prix.

"It is clear from the footage that Helen Llinaritx is made to drink a bottle of champagne while the rest of those present laugh at what is happening.

"The individual who makes the horse drink alcohol has been sanctioned by the French Trotting Association over the doping of four horses.

"He's been banned from training horses in France for four years and was fined £55,000.

"We consider this clear example of animal mistreatment appalling and once again it shows that this person doesn't respect animals or the law."

Solarpix

The man at the heart of this outrage has since claimed the horse was given a mixture of electrolytes and amino acids instead of alcohol, despite the fact that the bottle was a wine bottle and was fizzing at the top.

Speaking to a radio station in France on Friday (16 October), he said: "The horse wasn't tied up or forced to do anything."

The man was sentenced after four doping cases by the The United States Trotting Association earlier this year, and is currently banned from French trotting events until 25 October 2023.

The Majorca Equestrian Sports Institute has confirmed that an investigation has been launched and will be reported to the Civil Guard's Nature Protection Service upon completion.

Featured Image Credit: Solarpix

Topics: SPORT, Europe, Spain, Alcohol, Weird, Animals