$100k racehorse shot dead on Victorian farm

A racehorse worth $100,000 has been shot at close range on a farm near Melbourne.

The 14-year-old thoroughbred mare called Arriere was found dead in her paddock in Balnarring on the Mornington Peninsula on Saturday morning. She had a bullet wound to the head.

Police believe she was shot shortly after her evening meal around 8.30pm on Friday evening.

“Sadly she was found near the unfinished feed which leads detectives to believe she may have been killed not long after she was fed,” Senior Constable Julie-Anne Newman said in a statement.

Arriere was a champion racehorse in the early 2000s and has since been living as a broodmare, breeding the next generation of race winners.