“WE can do it” is the message jumps racing leaders are spreading after Racing Victoria gave the sport a reprieve yesterday.
The decision to allow the sport to continue next year if strict new performance targets are met brought a sigh of relief from many pro-jumping supporters.
Under the RVL lifeline:
Horse deaths need to be reduced by about half from 1.27 per cent of starters last season to 0.65 per cent this year;
Falls need to be reduced from more than five per cent of starters last season to three per cent;
The number of starters in each jumps race needs to be increased with less than eight starters in fewer than 20 per cent of races (down from 44 per cent this season)
and
Moonee Valley would no longer host jumps racing, leaving Sandown as the only Melbourne-based jumps track.
In reality, any more than four horse deaths would mean the sport had failed to meet the target.
RVL announced hurdles would be modified, with brush thickened and raised from a 45-degree angle to 90-degree angle, jockeys’ performances and horse qualification more closely scrutinised and the start of the season delayed until April 6.
RVL chief executive officer Rob Hines said the modifications to the hurdles and more padding added to the steeples would cost about $500,000 — a sum that would be taken from the sport’s $3 million prize pool this year.
“It’s a real lifeline,” Hines told The Standard.
He said the targets were achievable, saying the fall rate had been at or below three per cent three out of the last five years in Victoria and the fatality rate had been achieved before. He said the issue of starters would be resolved with a commitment by the Australian Jumps Racing Association that in the event of fields smaller than eight runners, races would be merged, axed or rescheduled.
“With jumps races, 44 per cent of the races last season were run with less than eight horses and no one wants to bet on races when they have such small fields, the odds aren’t great and there is no third dividend. It didn’t have a hope of attracting punters and being economically viable.”
Hines said the rescue measures would never have happened without the involvement of Melbourne Racing Club vice-chairman Mike Symons, who represented the jumps industry in negotiations.
“If you are looking for a white knight of jumps racing, it is Mike Symons.”
RVL would only negotiate with Symons and not AJRA president Rodney Rae.
Symons yesterday said the backflip by RVL gave industry participants control of their own destiny.
“The ball is firmly back in the court of the participants,” he said.
He said the targets could be met with “common sense” decisions, saying many of the falls and fatalities last season were a result of fatigued horses and poor placement. He predicted more horses would be pulled out of races when tired and horses’ jumping performances scrutinised more closely.
“We do have to get off to a good start,” he said.
“We have to be 0-100 at lunch off 30 overs. It would be great to get to Warrnambool and get through Warrnambool with no fatalities.”
Warrnambool Racing Club chairman Marg Lucas said the industry had to work hard to achieve the targets.
“There is no point going into it if you are not positive,” she said.
“It would be nice if some of the things (targets) weren’t so difficult but the board has a different perspective and one needs to respect their perspective. We have been given a lifeline and need to look at it as such and be positive, we can do it.”
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