KEY POINTS:
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing chairman Guy Sargent says it is nonsense to suggest steeplechasing is about to disappear from New Zealand racing.
NZTR has had a working party looking at all aspects of jumping, the report from which is due to be tabled to the authority's board on
July 17.
There has been a leak of part of that report, which suggests much of jumps racing will be rescheduled to midweek meetings.
Steeplechasing in particular has not been attracting solid levels of betting at a time when racing clubs are looking to maximise turnover.
"If there was any shift it would be minor races and we would look to retain the prestige jumping races for Saturday meetings," said Sargent yesterday.
"But it's a little early to be making statements - the report hasn't even been tabled yet."
Sargent said the report was commissioned because the three year period is up for which NZTR pledged $300,000 in 2004 to underwrite jumps racing.
"Hurdle racing during that period has got stronger, but steeplechasing hasn't.
"The questions that will be asked will include do we want to continue subsidising jumps racing.
"We will get the views of the board then we will meet with a group organised by Jumping Association president Ray Knight and only after that will we know which direction we're headed in."
Sargent has a timely and decent reason to want to see jumps racing flourish - he is a member of a large syndicate that races Saturday's $40,000 Hawkes Bay Steeplechase winner Just A Swagger.
"Jumps riders ride trackwork, break in and pre-train horses. If we get rid of jumps racing we would lose those people - we would be risking changing the whole fabric of our racing," he said.
"Under the comingling agreement with Australia we have to fill our racing days with meetings 52 weeks of the year and we wouldn't be able to meet that obligation at the moment if we scrubbed jumps racing.
"There are other issues like the placement of jumps races on the programme - generally they're early on the racecard and Races 1 and 2 will never attract the betting Races 9 and 10 will attract regardless of what types of races they are.
"You can make a case 2-year-old races are not great betting races."