Türkiye: Racehorse Smart Latch ends up as “beef” for feeding the poor

Mersin (Turkey) – Smart Latch was considered a beacon of hope for her stud. In 13 races, the mare galloped to three victories and the equivalent of around 23,000 euros in prize money. A broken bone ended the racehorse’s career in 2025. After the fracture healed, Smart Latch was donated to a children’s riding club. But the mare never got there and instead ended up on plates in a Turkish soup kitchen!

A needy person in Mersin (southern Turkey) finished his plate in the municipal soup kitchen. Suddenly he bit into a foreign object in his kavurma (traditional beef dish), Turkish media reports. What the man spat out initially sparked questions and later horror. The foreign body in the supposed beef was a microchip. He was implanted in Smart Latch at the Adana Yesiloba Racecourse. Pictures of the horse and the tracking device were shared on Instagram.

A scandal! The slaughter of horses for consumption is in the Türkiye not forbidden, but taboo. Horses are not processed into food there. As it turned out, the horse meat found in the food was actually officially declared as beef – it was obviously a fraud. The fate of the once successful mare sparked a wave of outrage in Turkey.

Racehorse illegally brought to the slaughterhouse

Her former owner Suat Topcu actually wanted to use Smart Latch for breeding after she ended her career due to injury. But the animal turned out to be sterile. According to media reports, Suat Topcu then wanted to donate the mare to a club in Osmaniye so that children could learn to ride it.

But the horse transport contracted apparently went to the illegal slaughterhouse. He sold the remains of Smart Latch as beef and overlooked the transmitter in the process. The dizziness came to light. The Mersin city administration announced that it would fully explain how horse meat could end up on the menu of the soup kitchen as a beef dish.