BEFORE they place a bet on the Grand National, readers should realise that, between 1999 and 2009, 30 horses died at the annual three-day meeting. In 2009 alone five horses were killed – largely unreported amid the hype surrounding this event.

The toll is on a par with the Cheltenham Festival, which has killed the same number of horses in the same time period – the worst year being 2006, when 11 lost their lives.

Readers may be shocked to learn that this year four horses died at Cheltenham, yet there was virtually no reporting of this.

As part of Animal Aid's Horse Racing Awareness Week (April 4-10), a graphic billboard has been erected in Liverpool city centre to bring home the grim reality of what happens to thoroughbreds forced to compete in races that confront them with lethal challenges.

It should always be remembered that this is funded by punters' betting money and racecourse attendance fees.

Our message is simple: Don't fund the cruelty; don't bet on the Grand National. For you it is a harmless flutter, but horses could pay with their lives.

Fiona Pereira

Campaigner, Animal Aid