Well over 400,000 tons of horse was killed for human consumption in 2009 (from wiki) thats equivalent to about 800,000 horses in one year, 812 horses have died in the course of five years of racing in the UK. Puts it into some perspective. In 2009 8.3 billion land animals were killed purely for consumption in the US. 3 million cattle, 13 million pigs, 19 million sheep and lambs, 70 million fish and 800 million birds are slaughtered for human consumption in the UK alone. Just a point that although unfortunate 162 horses a year dying is only one drop in a huge ocean. Around 110,000 innocent civilians killed in Iraq over 6 years. The point being that horse racing seems to be an easy target where there are other more weighty issues that people choose to ignore as that makes them feel uncomfortable. Put into context, sad though it is, the death of two horses is not in the overall context of how we view the horse or animals or even humans in terms of how we value them.