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Filed under: Animal Cruelty, Horse Racing, Jumps Racing, Racing

46 comments

“Barbaric”, “cruel” and “blood sport”. Three of the typically sensationalist slogans that anti-jumps racing protest groups are likely to bandy about over the next few days of Warrnambool’s May Racing Carnival.

Won't someone please think of the fences

Why? Because Warrnambool’s famous annual event features jumps racing.

Jumps racing’s reputation has taken a pounding in recent years. Every incident represents an easy target for protest groups and a similarly easy headline for the mainstream media.

But does jumps’ racing deserve its bad reputation? Part of the problem with jumps racing is that the issue has become shrouded in emotion rather than facts.

Take for example the recent claims made on radio after Casa Boy was regrettably euthanased by Elio Celotto, a spokesperson for protest group the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses.

Mr Celotto claimed that trainers and owners of jumpers were ‘in it to make a quick buck’.

For anyone who knows anything about racing, this is laughable. The overwhelming majority of owners in jumps racing make a significant loss financially and race their horses purely out of a love for the sport and animal. In most cases the prize money in jumps racing isn’t enough to cover the cost of training, let alone make a profit as suggested.

It is also no secret that the majority of jumpers are unwanted flat gallopers that are either too old or too slow to race over the shorter flat races. Many of these horses were destined for the knackery.

Thanks to their owners, many of these horses will be rewarded for their efforts over the jumps with a well deserved retirement paddock – a point the media and protestors never fail to overlook.

Significantly, just to survive each year, steeple chase racing must meet strict key performance indicators (KPIs) set down by Racing Victoria. It cannot fall above a rate of 0.65 per cent fatalities to starters, which in itself highlights the significant improvement made in safety in the past two seasons since the 2009 jumps racing review.

Since the decision at the beginning of the 2010 season to return to the use of a larger, more solid jump, there have only been three jumps related deaths.

While three deaths are regrettable and an ideal number would be zero, it is a significant improvement on the number of deaths that occurred in previous seasons when a smaller style of jump was used.

Ironically, the smaller style of jump was only introduced to appease animal welfare groups. These smaller ‘brush’ hurdles were introduced without the consultation of jumps trainers or jockeys and meant that horses didn’t slow down at the obstacles. As a result, the races were run at a significantly quicker speed, with disastrous consequences.

As long as the sport continues to meet the strict KPIs, Racing Victoria administrators owe it to the participants whose livelihoods depend on jumps racing to not bow to the vocal and pushy minority groups.

While a balanced and reasonable discussion of jumps racing is probably a little too much to expect, the next time you read about the ‘evils’ of jump racing, just remember that you might not be getting all the facts.

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46 comments

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- Tonedoggy says:
  
  07:07am | 04/05/11
  
  This is a load of rubbish. One fatality is too many. This KPI stuff is bulls**t, you can not put a ‘standard’ on lives lost. Jumps racing no more after this years Warrnambool.
  
  Reply
Punters Pal says:

09:13am | 04/05/11

Racehorses are meant to race. Whether you like it or not, if you eliminate jumps racing, the horses who run there would most likely be killed and used in pet food production. Jumps racing prolongs their life and lets them train and run.
sproket says:

10:51am | 04/05/11

Racehorses dont become meant to race because you put the name “race” in front of their name. They are meant to eat and reproduce. Any thing elase is desperate pseudo-intellectualising.
dovif says:

11:23am | 04/05/11

LOL

They are meant to eat and reproduce.

Less then 1% of male horses gets to be sires, some of them become work horses (very few) the rest will have to earn their living, so they could eat.

The ones who are not earning their living are send to become pet food. So for the jump horses, if they are not jumping a lot of them would be pet food already, what you are telling us is to kill those horses
Thommo says:

11:25am | 04/05/11

Horses wouldn’t be bred if there was no demand - that’s gotta be about the most moronic claim ever made above. What the fuck are these people smoking?
sproket says:

12:17pm | 04/05/11

@dovif

Apparently you are under the misapprehension that everything that lives and breathes on this earth was placed there purely and solely to serve and please you.

It’s so charming to see such anacronistic worldviews clung to so faithfully in this enlightened day and age.
Tim says:

12:37pm | 04/05/11

Sproket,
it seems that you are under the misapprehension that everything that lives on this planet isn’t meant to serve and please me.
The anthropomorphism of animals is stupid.
Of course we should try to minimise any harm that comes to animals but to suggest that we shouldn’t use them at all is silly.
And be in no doubt, the majority of the ardent protesters of jumps racing, object to any form of human use of animals, including food.
This is just an easy target for them.
Punters Pal says:

12:42pm | 04/05/11

That is correct. The horses which participate in horseracing are purely bred to race. These are not hobby horses which race around the racetrack on the weekend. All racehorses are descendants of three Arab horses whcih were brought into England in 1700s and can trace their bloodlines back to then.

Your comments - sproket and Thommo shows that you have absolutely no idea about horseracing and you are only here to sprout your animal lib nonsense.
Mike says:

08:30pm | 04/05/11

@Tim - your anthropomorphism call is pure nonsense. Nobody is claiming these horses are anything other than animals. They don’t have human feelings or ambitions. But that doesn’t mean they should die pointlessly in such a stupid, ugly and undignified way. If anything it degrades and embarrasses us as humans.
bree says:

08:52pm | 05/06/12

Just as long as people are finding entertainment through the cruelty of animals, it’s fine, right?

Jumps racing is dangerous for horses and there is nothing that can make it safe.
- AnthonyG says:
  
  07:19am | 04/05/11
  
  I love jumps racing. Its a great spectacle especially the Grand national at Aintree. Its funny how people jump up and down about the danger to the horses but don’t associate any danger for the midgets who ride them. I don’ like seeing horses being put down, I love horses and have owned and ridden them and I know while a horse is racing its being looked after very well. Race horses are vetted regularly and are in a lot better nick than your hack in the paddock
  
  Reply
jeffb says:

08:46am | 04/05/11

No one ever mentions the rider because they willingly put themselves in that situation, it is their choice. The horses have no choice.
Mahhrat says:

09:54am | 04/05/11

@jeff, by that logic then all racing should be banned for it’s abillity to cause death. Horses die in normal races too, they fall or get tripped in the close packs that form.

Do you wish to go that far?

What about other types of racing? I mean, Formula One cars don’t get a choice either.
Knemon says:

10:39am | 04/05/11

Hear hear AnthonyG - I too have been involved in the industry and I can assure punters that these jumps horses are actually the lucky ones…their trip to the glue factory was prolonged. These horses are not wild nor are they pets…they are bred to race. It is the hacks in paddocks around Australia that animal activists should be more concerned about, they suffer a far worse life than any racehorse.
- TChong says:
  
  08:57am | 04/05/11
  
  Ben - you have a cause to spruik for , no probs with that, but you have the rose colored specs on.
  Horses are usually only one or two bad starts away from the dog food cannery. True.
  But, Steeples isnt some form of graduation ceremony for the nags - ie do the steeples , then retire to the back paddock.
  Some old steeple chasers may get the retirement paddock, but
  the vast majority will still end up in tins
  
  Reply
- Bella Murphy says:
  
  09:08am | 04/05/11
  
  I’m with Tonedoggy - what a load of rubbish! There is no concern for the horses here. And if they didn’t do it for the money, how is it their ‘livelihoods depend on jumps racing’? Please Ben Asgari and all those others who enjoy this sport, this reckless endangerment of horses lives, stop kidding yourself. A true animal lover would not put an animal at risk in this way. A true animal lover would take these horses too old for standard racing and let him or her retire in peace, not be forced to train and risk his or her life for the pleasure of human beings.
  
  Reply
- Darren says:
  
  09:16am | 04/05/11
  
  I have nothing against jumps racing - but in all fairness if/when a horse is put down so should the jockey, trainer, owners and all the punters - they are all willing to profit from the good fortune of the horse, so should also be willing to pay the price with the horse as well
  
  Reply
- Dieter Moeckel says:
  
  10:34am | 04/05/11
  
  Making any animal do what is wouldn’t is thuggery - horses may be the animal athletes equivalent to Olympic human athletes but the difference is that the horses are forced to run - there is a little bloke on their back to make them do it.
  Take dog racing - if the dog wants to stop it can - it doesn’t have to worry about the 1/4 ounce of lead it get behind the ear afterwards.
  Any animal “games” are no different from bear and bull baiting, cockfighting, dog fighting carried out for the pleasure of people.
  I do like Darren’s comment ...
  
  Reply
Reid Wright says:

11:00am | 04/05/11

so if you ban horse racing, because we are forcing them to do something they wouldn’t otherwise do, 99% of horses would just be used for work on farms. When they are to old to work they get put down. The horses life involves slavery until death which obviously goes against your moral ethics. So do you propose we just abolish the whole horse species and everyone buy a tractor or motorcycle ?
George Washington says:

10:28pm | 05/05/11

So a horse that weighs close to a third to half a ton versus a little starving man or woman that weigh about 40 Kg has to run?
If i jump on a cow i’ll bet it’ll stand there and look at me and go back to eating grass and making my milk. Do the math and you’ll see that no-one can make them run. They want to. They want to jump. Has anyone asked the horses to see if they don’t want this type of racing? I doubt it. So why take up their fight?

I wonder how many of the people here that are anti jumps, have pets at home. Or walk around in their leather shoes.
- Get Real says:
  
  12:28pm | 04/05/11
  
  Ben, if they are well cared for and loved they wouldnt be forced into jumps racing nor sent to the knackery. However a death at the knackery would probably be more humane than dying via jumps. At least the knackery doesnt break their shoulders, backs or necks first. But Ben makes a very good point these horses, unlike other countries, are not bred not specifically trained from the start for jumps racing, they are all from the flat. Jumps racing is just one more opportunity for owners to extract every last dollar out of the horse first before sending it to the knackery. Because jumps racing doesnt save horses from the knackery, most are sent their after jumps regardless. There is no evidence horses love to jump, in fact they rarely do so in the wild. If they loved it and did it naturally a jockey nor furious whipping of the horse wouldnt be necessary.
  
  Reply
George Washington says:

10:34pm | 05/05/11

Get Real:
Did you see that horse in Warrnambool jump the fence????
No little man on it’s back. It jumped that 7 foot fence all by itself.
I remember when i was younger the ponies from my parents property jumped our fences and we had to go and find them and bring them back. Curiously no hole in the fence. I wonder if David Copperfield was around and used his magic to send them through the fence….
Unfortunately opinions are like arseholes. everyone has one. On top of that some don’t worry about facts.
Reminds me of a monty python line “She’s just making it up as she goes along. Terrible”
- Belinda says:
  
  12:35pm | 04/05/11
  
  As someone who has worked with horses all my life, including breeding and racing thoroughbreds, I find it incredible that no one seems to realise how much horses LOVE jumping (a gross generalisation yes, but on the whole this is true). As a herd animal horses are naturally competitive, athletic and agile - watch the youngsters in the paddock for a only a few minutes and you will see them run, race and jump any obstacles (real or imaginary) that they come across. Jumps racing is simply adapting the Horse’s natural instinct to race and jump to a spectacle performance for our entertainment and their enjoyment… AND THEY DO LOVE IT, they know when they win and when they do well and it is enormously gratifying to watch.
  
  Wild horses are lucky to live more then 5-7 years in the wild, as performance athletes in jumps racing or any other field they are (generally) revered and cared for the duration of a full and productive life until they are humanely euthanised - usually only after injury, illness or old age make is neccessary. Although some ex-racehorses are unfit for other purposes after their career is over, to say that all racehorses end up in a can on retirement is ignorant fear-mongering - most go on to be happy and productive as breeding stock, performance horses or paddock companions.
  
  As for the idea that Jockeys “force” horses to jump - no 50kg jockey is going to make any 500kg horse do something that it doesn’t want to do. They are intelligent, powerful and opinionated animals and bullying them will get you nowhere.
  
  Reply
Lisa H. says:

06:06pm | 04/05/11

hm, another opinion is that horses are are not well suited to high jumps, because their eyesight makes it difficult for them to judge the jump.
Horse racing is populated by people that LOVE horses, yet from an inside view, many of these people tend to force them to train without necessary rest to the point where they cannot recover from lameness.
Often, they are too cheap, too ignorant of science or too broke to pay for veterinary care that is badly needed.
Many horse racing people often inject the horses with dangerous or ill-considered substances for witch-quackery reasons.
Loving a horse doesn’t mean knowing its best interests from a physical perspective.
But a life lived at all is better than a life not lived, I guess… better than a Donkey’s existence in Morocco, that’s for sure!
- David says:
  
  12:44pm | 04/05/11
  
  So, the first race of the ‘jumps’ season, another horse dies. Wonderful. I would support getting rid of all animals being involved in sport. By the way, I wouldn;t include an F1 car as an animal as Mahhrat seems to.
  
  Reply
- Manny says:
  
  12:50pm | 04/05/11
  
  Ever notice that when a horse dumps its jockey in a jumps race that it keeps going and keeps jumping the hurdles until it gets tired? That’s because the horses actually enjoy it. When there is no jockey on board, they aren’t being forced to do anything, but they continue to keep running and jumping!
  
  The truth of the matter is, 95% of the ‘animal rights group’ wouldn’t know a horses head from it’s hind quarters and are merely basing their ‘arguments’ or raw emotion and assumptions. These horses get treated like kings for all of their racing careers and after it. Maybe some of you should go visit a stable and see what goes on there on a day-to-day basis; I assure you that you would be pleasantly surprised.
  
  The other thing to point out is, that the two horses that have died in the last few weeks ‘over the jumps’ actually didn’t die due to the jumps. What you saw were two horses running into the hurdle and not jumping it at all; reasons being were the horses both had ruptured aortas (heart attacks). This was ever so conveniently left out of all media reports because a horse having a heart attack and dying isn’t as good as reading “JUMPS RACING KILLS ANOTHER”. Heart attacks are a part of racing, and life for that matter, we just have to live with it.
  
  The sport of jumps racing is not perfect, it needs a few aspects seriously fixed up (namely making the jumps higher, that will prevent most of the falls) but it is a sport that many people rely on not only for enjoyment but also to live. This is how some people make a living.
  
  It really is hard sometime to reason with some people over this subject (I have seen some ‘activists’ say that they would be happy if jumps racing was banned as all of the ‘evil people who work in the industry’ would lose their jobs and have to find another career.) That comment needs no further explanation… At the end of the day, you don’t have to like it, you don’t have to watch it and hell you don’t have to accept it; but before you go and make largely false and broad generalizations about the sport, I strongly urge you to do what the writer of this article has done and go find out the FACTS.
  
  Reply
maddie says:

05:18pm | 04/12/12

To all of the pro jumps racing comments on this article.

First i would like to address those of you with children, if your child participated in a sport that had a 67% chance of them being severely, permanently injured or killed would you allow them to participate? Keep in mind that would give them a 33% chance of being successful. These figures are the legitimate stats of the 2011 jumps racing season. Giving horses a 33% of completing a race, have a good think about that.

The dumbest comment i have seen so far is ‘that horses love to jump, and even as ‘all horses love to jump’. That is as naive as saying all vegetarians love meat. Yes horses have the physical capability to jump but studies have shown that while horses are capable of long term memory and instinctual feelings, they cannot actually love, hate,be jealous, spiteful. Horses are only mentally capable of memories (negative and positive) and the flight or fight mode along with the overwhelming desire to live.

Now to the people who believe that they do jumps racing not for profit but for the love of it, the people who say they ‘love their horses’? If you love something why would you hurt it? If you love your horse why put it out on the hurdle track where is has a LESS THAN 50% CHANCE of leaving the track unhurt? You must have a sick twisted idea of love.

Now for the people who believe it will destroy an entire industry and turn upside down the lives of the people who are involved in jumps racing? I cannot believe that it would not be too hard to get a job in the flat racing industry? jockeys, strappers, stable hands, trainers,stewards,officials? As for all the horses that will supposedly go to the knackers if they can no longer jumps race. Doesn’t this contradict your statements that ‘after they race they have a nice retirement plan’? There are a lot of racehorse outplacement programs that place them into much more loving caring homes than you say you provide. Also to add in Jumps racing is only a speck of dust to the Australian economy and it will certainly not be missed. In fact flat racing contributes $6.2 billion every year while the spring carnival sees the best international horses come to Australia to run in these races, England, Japan, Europe and America. Who is jumps racing when they hold only 95 races a year compared to flat racing over 19,500? Who is jumps racing when they only have 64 registered trainers and 26 registered jockeys? Your comment that jumps racings end will see thousands of lives turned upside down when the figures show that only 64 will. I can guarantee you beyond doubt that if those horses could talk they would choose life not death. How can you possible sit there and preach that jumps racing is for the good of the horses?

No animal great or small deserves to die and certainly no animal deserves to die senselessly, i find it incredibly shocking that an animal that has done nothing but offer us great service over the centuries of their domestication can be subjected to such murder.
- People = Shit says:
  
  01:10pm | 04/05/11
  
  Horse racing afficianados are indoctrinated to believe that they are helping these horses prolong their career. When did the horse sign-up for this shit? Why are they subjected to this race-conditioning in the first place? For human greed! Great, you think you love horses, then let them be horses and live in the wild. There won’t be any over-populating, it’s called nature, which dictates survival of the fittest, consequently no horse will ever need be sent to the knackery. If you want to compete in a sport, use your own body and leave the animals out of your human filth parade.
  
  Reply
Cas says:

03:30pm | 04/05/11

When did any animal “sign-up” for anything? See, that’s the beauty of being at the top of the tree. Humans dictate what lower species do. Not saying it’s right, but the reality is few animals have a say in how they are treated and used. Do chooks sign up to be egg layers? Cows to be milked twice daily? Dogs to be domestic pets? Elephants to entertain the masses in zoos? Nope. I hope your animal lib freedom to live in the wild nonsense extends to all of them and not just horses.
- Manny Galouzis says:
  
  02:46pm | 04/05/11
  
  Are you implying we should simply gather up the many hundred if not thousands of jumps horses, take them to ‘the wild’ (whereever the hell that is) and just let them run free? Where exactly pray tell, would be a suitable place to dump all of these horses? Not only is it an issue of providing ample space for them, but are you going to ensure that they are fed?
  
  If they keep racing, then every day they are exercised, washed, fed, given medication and pampered in every way possible. Yet again, it appears that another do-gooder has seemingly skipped over the fact that the horses ENJOY jumping! With a user name like that, it makes me wonder whether you actually care about horses or whether you are just another ‘bandwagoner’ looking to jump onboard the latest ‘fad’ the ‘activists’ are fighting against. Viva la revolucion, don’t let The Man keep you down etc…
  
  Reply
People = Shit says:

04:05pm | 04/05/11

I’m not talking about taking the existing horses out and leaving them to fend for themselves. The industry should never have begun in the first place. I’m sure horses love jumping. I love riding my bike, but that would change with a Jockey sitting on my back whipping me. I CHOOSE to ride a bike, and take into account any dangers the sport may present. Forcing a horse to race, so you can profit (or not), is bullshit. The only thing that should be a ‘fad’ is horse racing (not just jumps-racing). I dont disagree with owning a horse and riding it to your hearts content, my problem is treating them as a business tool.
Manny says:

04:51pm | 04/05/11

Horse racing is not a fad. It has been around in Australia since the 19th century, hardly a fad. Regarding your ‘business tool’ comment, I can only assume that you think we should shut down all cattle ranches so we can’t eat beef, cows will no longer produce milk, goats no longer cheese, chicken no eggs; hell let’s shut down fishing whilst we are at it. If we shut down every industry which profits from the use of animals, then I fear we will all have no choice but to become vegans (and that, really does sound shit.)
Peopleneedtogetagrip says:

07:22am | 05/05/11

But Manny, then we wouldn’t be able to fertlize our crops - we can’t use those nasty chemicals, and we no longer have any horses for the manure for the garden…. People=Shit was obviously thinking of new ways to fertlize our vegan crops when thinking of his username
Horse With No Name says:

08:30pm | 05/05/11

@People = Shit - “Forcing a horse to race, so you can profit (or not), is bullshit.”

Why?

Furthermore you keep prattling on about ‘choice’ and ‘forcing’ a horse to something: they don’t have free will you realise? Horses do not make any ‘choices’, period. You are talking nonsense.
- Jazza says:
  
  03:26pm | 04/05/11
  
  This debate always decends into the ridiculous with the do-gooders rhetoric dichotomy which basically says you either oppose jumps racing or you support cruelty and death to horses.
  
  No-one likes to see horses fall in sports but there is an element of risk in all equine pursuits whether it be racing, polocross, hunts or hacking around in a paddock. Believe it or not some horses even break legs and die whilst cantering around a paddock by themselves.
  
  If the animal lobbyists actually accepted equine pursuits as a legitmate form of activity- which it is- and worked together with government and the industry to minimise the dangers instead of fear mongering we might actually find a compromise where fatalities are decreased.
  
  One death on our roads is too many. Do we ban driving cars as a result?
  
  Reply
- The Liberal Loafer says:
  
  04:15pm | 04/05/11
  
  how do you bet on jumps racing?In a jump suit?Or in a jumper?
  
  Reply
- Bundy says:
  
  06:28pm | 04/05/11
  
  this would have to be the most badly researched one sided article I’ve ever read. DOn’t own a racehorse do you Ben?
  
  Apart from saying that horses have to “earn their retirement” (implying that if they don’t - they go to the knackery). Then theres the jumps that the horses have no respect for. the jumps supporters say horses are BRED for jumping - its in their blood. And NOW you’re saying the horses have no respect for the jumps? they approach them to fast? Wouldn’t have anything to do with the jockey who’s WHIPPING THEM over the jumps would it ben?
  
  Now onto those KPI’s that you so carefully pointed out. Poor Jumps racing! Havn’t to comply with KPI’s. Pity they dont.. comply that is. Yup. Haven’t met the KPI’s yet. this year is no different. In fact - thsi year is worse!
  
  As you point out - these horses are FAILED RACEHORSES! How on earth can you expect them to be successful in jumps racing - where the races are longer and have jumps - requiring more speed, stamina and skill - all the skills they failed to show on the racetrack.
  
  And Finally. The death figures. 18,000 a year to the knackery straight from the flat races. We’re doing them a favour by putting a few hundred into jumps racing? really? REALLY? Try harder Ben. You need to do a little more research. If that is Jumps Racings retirement plan then I think they need to find another line of work. There are still approx 17,750 killed every year “unlucky” enough not to go to jumps racing.
  
  Reply
Manny says:

06:49pm | 04/05/11

You clearly have no idea what you are talking about and shouldn’t stipulate on things you don’t know about. Jockey’s do not whip horses over the jumps… jockeys only use the whip to straighten the horse up, or ask it for an effort (more often than not, in the home straight). What possible purpose would there be from a jockey whipping a horse whilst it is trying to clear an obstacle? The horses are actually steadied before they jump over. The problem is because the jumps are so low to the ground, the horses basically run over them; this causes a much more devastating impact when they clip the top of the jump and they then go tumbling over with a great deal of momentum. If the jumps are raised, they go over them slower, get a better sight on the jump and even if they fail the jump, when they fall it will be a lost less severe.

And seriously, don’t lump the ‘whipping is cruel’ situation into this arguement. It’s over. There are now rules in place which affect how many times you can whip your horse and honestly, these new padded whips would barely cause a tickle on your girlfriends arse if used in the bedroom, let alone any serious distress to a 500kg ball of muscle.
- Glen says:
  
  10:23pm | 04/05/11
  
  This is like that awful little punk on Youtube that puts Gold Fish in with Sharks. BOO! HISS!
  
  Reply
- Teri says:
  
  01:00pm | 05/05/11
  
  Thank goodness, someone at last with the facts. One thing always overlooked is the fact that some horses actually LOVE to jump, I know because I had one that would jump anything for the fun of it. and yes it is tragic that there are fatalities, but there are in flat racing as well. And if they really want to go there, how about the Greyhounds????
  
  Reply
rb says:

03:50pm | 05/05/11

Horses love to jump? All horses can jump, it’s part of their flight or fight ability. Some horses love to jump and some horses hate to jump. And jumps racing increases the risk of accidents.
- Ferdinand Alcindor Jr says:
  
  04:06pm | 05/05/11
  
  “Racing Victoria administrators owe it to the participants whose livelihoods depend on jumps racing to not bow to the vocal and pushy minority groups”
  
  What a ridiculous statement. How many people’s livelihoods depend on jumps racing in Victoria? How many specialist jumps trainers and jockeys are there? 50? 100? I’d say 200 at an absolute maximum.
  So who exactly is in the minority here?
  
  For what it’s worth, Racing Victoria should cut loose this blight on the industry and remove all jumps racing entirely from the calendar. If the participants can’t live without it then they can organise the races themselves. Jumps racing is extremely poorly patronised by TAB punters, who know how volatile these races are and refuse to wager on them. Racing Victoria should make the sensible business decision and distance themselves from this anachronistic joke of a sport.
  
  Reply
Manny says:

09:30pm | 05/05/11

Wrong on every level. Yet more uninformed assumptions. If you think there are only 100 people in Victoria who are affiliated with jumps racing, then it is plainly obvious you are like the many other protesters who don’t have a clue on how the industry works. Trainers and jockeys aren’t the only people who work in jumps. What about strappers, stablehands, foremen, breeders? And if it is only 100? What makes turning 100 peoples lives upside down okay? I didn’t realize there must be a certain amount of livelihoods at stake before we consider not acting…

And for that matter, why does everyone seem to think that jumps is restricted to Victoria? Ever heard of a place called Oakbank? Or Morphetville? Both race tracks in SOUTH AUSTRALIA which hold hurdle and steeple races on a regular basis.

As for your wagering ‘information’, I can guarantee you that there is interest in wagering on the jumps races. There was $136,000 in the SuperTAB Win pool on Race 2 and $202,000 in Race 6 today at Warrnambool, both of which were jumps races. (These figures take only SuperTAB figures from the Win pool into account, excluding the other amounts in the place pool and exotics; nor do they the other 2 totes and do not include the many other hundred thousands that were wagered on the race with corporate bookmakers). Even the bookies ring on course was packed at these times, I was there after all.

And in what might have been the funniest thing I saw all day, whilst leaving the course I saw a bloke jokingly yell “Where’s the protester? (Yep, there was only one…) I feel like having a blue!” Well, the police officer tapped him and said “He’s right over there mate” and pointed him out. Makes you wonder; if cops are advocating the protesters being told what is what, then I’m more than happy to believe that they are nothing more than the obnoxious, megaphone-holding pests that everyone else view them as.
- Ferdinand Alcindor Jr says:
  
  09:55am | 06/05/11
  
  Manny you really are struggling.
  If you bother to read my post I said ‘specialist’ jumps trainer and jockeys. This means trainers and jockeys who exclusively deal with jumps horses. How many of these are there? Anyway there’s nothing stopping jumps trainers from training flat horses if jumps racing were to be banned. Strappers, breeders etc - all in the same boat. Jockeys are another story obviously but how many are we talking about here?
  Your insinuation that these people’s lives would be ‘turned upside down’ is laughable. More desperate scare tactics from an increasingly desperate lobby.
  
  Oh, and thanks for pointing out those TAB pools, they demonstrate my point perfectly. $202K on the ‘internationally acclaimed’ Grand Annual Steeple, but wait - check the very next race, the lowly 0-78 1100m Handicap: $270K!
  And Manny, best you get your facts right - race 2 was NOT a jumps race but race 1 was - and it attracted a paltry $53K in the TAB win pool.
  
  As for your last paragraph - I’m not sure what your’e getting at but the number of protesters turning up to racetracks is irrelevant.
  Go and pluck 100 random people off the street and ask them should jumps racing be banned. The vast majority will say yes, mainly because they have no interest in horse racing whatsoever and to them jumps racing just means horses falling and getting killed - who would condone such a sport?
  Public opinion is firmly against jumps racing and RV should move with the times and ditch it before they become a laughing stock.
  
  Reply
- Kerri Bryant says:
  
  01:46pm | 23/06/11
  
  The comments I like best are - “Thanks to their owners, many of these horses will be rewarded for their efforts over the jumps with a well deserved retirement paddock – a point the media and protestors never fail to overlook” - and “The overwhelming majority of owners in jumps racing make a significant loss financially” Here’s a thought, instead of wasting money, retire them straight after their flats careers have ended and use the money saved to re-educate these horses to make them more attractive to those looking for a horse. Why is it that only those that are jumped deserve retirement, while all others are shipped off to the knackery? (not that I believe for one minute IF they survive jumps racing they live happily ever after in a grassy paddock)
  
  And the same old “there were only so many protestors etc etc.” Other than industry NO ONE attends race meetings for the jumps races - crowd numbers are abysmal - instead of getting up those that don’t turn up to protest, what about those that apparently support the jumps? Where are they? They are doing NOTHING to ensure jumps racing survives.
  
  As for KPIs - I have greater faith in Father Christmas being real than the RVL actually sticking to their promises regarding KPIs
  
  Reply
- Kim Day says:
  
  01:59pm | 23/06/11
  
  Ferdinand there are NO full time trainers that have purely jumps horses - they have either a mixture of both flat and jumps or they are considered “hobby” trainers with one or 2 in work.
  
  As for Jockeys, there are about 20 jumps jockeys in Voctoria and over HALF of those have to suppliment their income OUTSIDE the industry,
  
  The old “you will destroy thousands of lives” excuse is an old one and just not true. Yes there will be a very small amount of people affected BUT those not absorbed into the flats racing industry have a chance to gain more skills that may even prolong their working lives, setting them up for a financial retirement.
  
  Those in the lower ranks of the racing industry really earn poor wages. Yes they love what they do BUT it is up to all of us to get a career that will be able to support us now and later in life.
  
  Imagine if we all became welfare dependent because the job we loved to do didnt support us?
  
  hmmmm I might quit my job and become a professional poler player coz I dont mind a hand or 2 and if I dont make enough to live, thats ok Ill propped up by welfare.
  
  Reply

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