Racing: Jumps may get reprieve

You've got to be kidding.

Victorian jumps racing getting a possible crack at survival?

That's what Melbourne's Herald Sun has reported.

If that's true then so too is the contention that those in control are out of touch and incompetent.

If you're going to put the sword to something that will affect thousands of lives, you make damn sure you're right and not about to do a backflip.

You felt when Racing Victoria recently put in place its new regulations for the rescue, or changing, package for jumps racing that RVL was simply going through the motions, that they didn't really want jumping to continue.

The changes included removing the last fence in races. Really? Did it not occur to them that some fence has to be the last one.

They didn't include the sensible ones - and changes that had been recommended by those who "really" know, like increasing the size of the jumps and increasing the minimum weights to slow horses down.

No, they looked like they didn't want to change things that would allow a continuation.

When you look at the situation now, perhaps they simply didn't know.

The Herald Sun story is quite remarkable: Jumps racing is poised to get a potential lifeline after a dramatic day of talks, the paper reports.

Representatives of the three city clubs, Country Racing Victoria, owners, jockeys, trainers, breeders, bookmakers and unions were told of the proposal at a meeting [this week].

While detail of the proposal and the resolution from the industry remained unclear, RVL is believed to have put parameters on what will be acceptable for jumps racing to continue beyond next year.

Australian Jumps Racing Association president Rodney Rae and RVL chief executive Rob Hines were expected to continue talks.

Jumps racing seemed doomed when RVL announced last Friday it would end after the 2010 season on the grounds of poor image, safety and economics.

The decision was welcomed by animal welfare activists but met a groundswell of opposition from racing industry groups and jumps fans.

Respected New Zealand jumps trainer John Wheeler said this week he feared all horse sports were at risk unless RVL reversed its decision.

Wheeler said jumps racing was only the start for the animal welfare lobby.

"They won't stop. If they win this, they'll win 'em all. Rodeos, three-day eventing, show jumping," he said.

Protesters will next week take aim at two-year-old racing in Australia, the Herald Sun reported.

Wheeler said 40 of the top 60 trainers in New Zealand had served an apprenticeship in jumps racing.

"That's because the people involved in jumps racing really love the sport."

A stalwart of the Oakbank and Warrnambool jumps racing carnivals for the past 20 years, Wheeler said RVL was being naive by saying it would put A$1 million into Warrnambool and keep the three-day carnival going.

"They're kidding," he said.

Wheeler, who has won seven Great Eastern Steeplechases at Oakbank and four Warrnambool Grand Annuals, said jumps racing was the attraction for the huge crowds at both carnivals.

"The only reason 65,000 people go to Oakbank and 20,000 to Warrnambool is the spectacle," he said.

Wheeler said deaths in all horse sports were a fact of life.

"I lost three jumpers this year and not one at a fence," he said. "My Grand National Steeplechase winner this year, Bennyosler, broke a leg in a paddock. That's what happens. Where you have livestock, you've got dead stock."