An explosive 7.30 Report investigation into the slaughter of Australian racehorses continues to make shockwaves across the industry.

After Peter V’landys defended Racing NSW’s efforts to protect horses after they’ve retired, he’s been receiving an increasing amount of criticism. Speaking to Channel 10 on Saturday, he said he was “proud of our animal welfare program where we try to re-home every horse that’s been domiciled in NSW”.

The comment pushed sports commentator Peter FitzSimons from Channel 9’s Sports Sunday over the edge, as he asked, “Mate, what would it take before you’re not proud of it?”

FitzSimons suggested the investigation – which claimed hundreds and possibly thousands of racehorses were being sent to slaughter each year – was so concerning that V’landys should reconsider his plan to take over as Australian Rugby League Commission chairman.

“I mean this as a serious point,” tweeted FitzSimons. “If I was involved with either racing or the NRL, I would not be happy with V’landys having the dual roles of running Racing NSW and the NRL. He will, and should, have his hands completely full sorting out the atrocities of racing.”

Also appalled was fellow Sports Sunday panelist Richard Freeman, who belongs to a famous horse racing family.

“We’ve known for a long time in horse racing the whole future of our sport depends on how we treat the horses,” said Freedman.

“Five years ago we have no rules or regulations around how horses were treated once they left racing. We’ve instituted a lot … around the people who are involved in horse racing, but it’s not enough.

“What we saw on Thursday night … it was sickening. I’ve been around horse racing for 50 years. I couldn’t watch what I was seeing.”

But Freedman jumped to V’landys’ defence, saying he shouldn’t be singled out.

“In Peter’s defence he’s the first to institute some rules and regulations, which we had none of five years ago,” he said.

“I’ve spoken to Peter privately, and he’s just as appalled as everyone else. He may express it differently and you may take a different view of that, but I can tell you he will not rest until we fix this problem.”