Racing: Jumps decision delayed

Jumps racing fans and opponents must wait at least 24 more hours to find out the fate of the sport.

Racing Victoria's board yesterday said they were unable to reach a conclusion on the future of jumps racing without further consideration.

The board is expected to decide today whether or not to end the 155-year tradition of jumps racing in Victoria.

RVL chairman Michael Duffy told the Herald Sun newspaper the board needed more time to consider submissions from racing industry groups and animal welfare groups. Representatives from many of the groups appeared before the board yesterday.

More than 500 jumps supporters gathered inside the Racing Victoria headquarters main gate at Flemington, where the specially convened board meeting took place.

About 40 anti-jumps campaigners stood outside the RVL' s gate, waving placards and voicing their disapproval of a sport they regard as cruel. Earlier, they had been asked to leave the grounds, to ensure no direct confrontation with jumps supporters.

Police formed a protective line in front of the anti-jumps demonstrators to separate the two groups.

Australian Jumps Racing Association president Rodney Rae said the body would ask the Racing Victoria board to reinstate jumps racing immediately.

He said Victoria's Racing Minister Rob Hulls had "brought this pressure on us completely inappropriately".

A number of speakers took to the microphone outside the meeting to support jumps racing, including top trainers David Hayes and Fran Houlahan.

Hayes said he was "here for the horses".

"I'm just very worried about the consequences of the actions of the do-gooders," he said.

"The shocking thing is ... a lot of these type of horses get sent to the knackery, which I hate the thought of."

RSPCA state president Dr Hugh Wirth was not at the protest, but hoped jumps would be banned and disputed claims by industry figures that horses would definitely be destroyed if that happens.

He described the claims as "emotional blackmail, incorrect in fact".

Dr Wirth said it was most likely the horses would be put on the open market, most sold at monthly sales in provincial towns like Bendigo and Echuca.

"Horses from the jumps, from the flat are sold on the open market and we don't know exactly what happened to them," he said.

A Sydney University study is presently trying to map the fate of racehorses.

Margaret Lucas, the chair of Warrnambool Racing Club, which runs a hugely popular annual carnival with flat and jumping races, said people in her town were in tears following the announcement last week that jumps racing had been suspended.

"This is not a lunatic fringe, this is an international sport," she told the pro-jumping protesters. "We should not be apologists."

- AAP