As I predicted a couple of months ago, Racing Victoria is to ban jumps racing from the end of the 2010 season. The decision will spark outrage and uproar. RVL chairman Michael Duffy says the decision to end more than a century of jumps racing in Victoria was an extremely tough one to make but a necessary decision in the wake of two 'disastrous' seasons. He says: The board could not allow jumps racing to wither on the vine or, worse still, become the victim of an immediate knee-jerk ban at some f
As I predicted a couple of months ago, Racing Victoria is to ban jumps racing from the end of the 2010 season. The decision will spark outrage and uproar. RVL chairman Michael Duffy says the decision to end more than a century of jumps racing in Victoria was an extremely tough one to make but a necessary decision in the wake of two 'disastrous' seasons. He says: The board could not allow jumps racing to wither on the vine or, worse still, become the victim of an immediate knee-jerk ban at some future point in time....Despite the implementation of all the safety recommendations of the Jones report conducted in 2008 the incidence of falls and fatalities has continued to increase.'
Country Racing Victoria chief Scott Whiteman says the decision is "unbelievable....We are absolutely gutted by the decision and we can't believe it.' Adn there's been a stinging rebuke from South Australia. Thoroughbred Racing SA chairman Philip Bentley blasts Victoria's move as one that 'will go down in history as the beginning of the end of a proud tradition.'...He says his state has no intention of ending jumps racing, but he expresses fears for the industry's survival.
Happiest people around are those associated with fighting animal cruelty. Unable to be effective in stamping out real cruelty to animals other than racehorses they are clapping their hands at having forced Racing Victoria into banning jumps racing.