March 19, 2026
Authorities confirmed it was a four-year-old thoroughbred mare named Smart Latch.
A champion racehorse was unsuspectedly on the menu at a municipal soup kitchen in southern Turkey when a diner discovered a microchip in his meal. He lodged a complaint and provided the evidence, and authorities confirmed it was a four-year-old thoroughbred mare named Smart Latch.
According to the International Business Times UK, in February, while dining at a soup kitchen in Mersin’s Yenisehir district, a diner who ordered kavurma, a traditional stew made with beef or lamb, found a horse’s microchip in his meal. He kept the microchip while lodging a complaint to the authorities on Feb. 4.
An investigation by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry inspectors determined that the microchip came from Smart Latch, which had been put to death after she broke her leg during a race in Adana on Oct. 14, 2025. They also determined that the meat was mislabeled as beef before it reached a facility in Mersin. Investigators discovered that the horse meat was diverted from its intended path.
The horse’s owner, Suat Topcu, stated that he had donated her to a nearby riding club for rehabilitation. He told reporters, “We are in distress,” as he was fined 132,000 Turkish lira ($2,996) for failing to report the donation.
Smart Latch won three of her 13 starts at Adana’s Yesiloba Hippodrome before the injury ended her promising career.
The Daily Mail reported that after authorities determined that it was horse meat, they had nearly 470 pounds of the kavurma made with the meat destroyed.
The Mersin Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry is investigating how Smart Latch ended up at a slaughterhouse, rather than at the riding club Topcu claims he sent the horse to.
It is illegal in Turkey to slaughter horses for human consumption, especially for registered racehorses, which are typically protected or re-homed. The ministry stated that the soup kitchen had been “added to the list of unsafe products after testing showed it contained meat from a single-hoofed animal.”
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