OPPONENTS of jumps racing made sure their voices were heard yesterday.
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Positioned in their usual spot just outside the main gate, seven protestors from the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses armed with placards, banners and megaphones chanted anti-jumps messages as thousands of punters made their way into the racecourse.
Further down the hill a small group of people from the Australian Jumps Racing Association (AJRA) were collecting petition signatures to show support for the sport.
Coalition campaign director Elio Celotto said the fall rate for horses this season was already worse than it was when the sport was suspended in 2009. He said there had been two horse deaths in trials so far this season.
“There have been seven falls in five races at Warrnambool this week,” he said. “They have all got up and run again but these horses are not likely to be seen again.”
Mr Celotto said while it couldn’t be certain if those horses had died, “silence from trainers” indicated they had.
“The trainers only come out when they have a good story and are silent for the rest of the time,” he said.
He called on the Victorian government to follow the lead of its South Australian counterpart and launch an inquiry into the sport.
“We have dozens of people calling us from Warrnambool saying they are against the sport, but don’t want to speak out because of the small town thing. There have been people walking past us here today giving us the thumbs up saying we are with you.”
Sharon Lees, from the AJRA, said they had been collecting signatures for the three days of the carnival and had thousands of people putting pen to paper.
She said people were approaching them to sign the petition and they were filling 50 sheets a day.