Leading trainer Robbie Laing is approaching the new jumps racing guidelines with caution with the sport given a lifeline as long as certain standards are met.Racing Victoria Limited (RVL) announced a set of stringent requirements on Thursday which, if met, would mean at least one more season of jumps racing.The three key performance indicators are: reducing fatalities by 50 per cent from last season; cutting the rate of falls from over five per cent to three per cent of starters by the end of th

Leading trainer Robbie Laing is approaching the new jumps racing guidelines with caution with the sport given a lifeline as long as certain standards are met.

Racing Victoria Limited (RVL) announced a set of stringent requirements on Thursday which, if met, would mean at least one more season of jumps racing.

The three key performance indicators are: reducing fatalities by 50 per cent from last season; cutting the rate of falls from over five per cent to three per cent of starters by the end of the 2010 season; and a commitment to increase the number of starters per race to eight.

Several changes have been made in 2010 with no jumps races at Moonee Valley and a deferred start to the season of April 6 to enable horses to trial over the modified hurdles which will have improved padding and the angle and width of the brush increased.

With the jumps season put back by more than five weeks, Laing said it was imperative that there be communication with trainers regarding programming of races.

"I just hope the programmers get in touch with the jumping trainers and to find out what numbers and class of horses we have in work," Laing said.

"I hope they don't program a lot of races in April, because I know with my stable as well as with other stables, a lot of owners have been reluctant to bring horses in early because we didn't know what was going on."

"Otherwise a lack of numbers will just look bad and it will be the end of it."

Laing has six jumpers in work for the approaching season including stable stars Mazzacano, Sir Pentire and Desert Master.

The three were nominated on Tuesday for the Nakayama Grand Jump in Japan on April 17 in the hope of being invited to run in the world's richest steeplechase.

Rodney Rae, president of the Australian Jumping Racing Association (AJRA) said RVL's decision was a positive outcome for the sport.

"It provides jumping racing with a lifeline," he said.

"Two months ago we were talking about the end of jumps racing and now we're talking about new initiatives, modifications to current obstacles and RVL and the AJRA are working together on those."

Rae said meeting the conditions would be challenging after two bad years for jumping racing.

"We've achieved these results previously and we've performed within that range from 2005 to 2007 when we had three fantastic years and we have 150 years of history, but we have to improve on the past two years," he said.

"It's clear that all parties share the objective of Victorian jumping racing performing within the range of world's best practice."

RVL said the 2010 season would be continually monitored by the jumps review panel and it reserved the right to suspend or cease jumps racing should circumstances demand.

"As the jumps racing industry has agreed to RVL's conditions and, specifically, if they are met in 2010, RVL will agree to the continuation of jumps racing for one season in 2011," RVL chairman Michael Duffy said.

He said if the new conditions were met in both the 2010 and 2011, then RVL would commit to a further three-year program.

But if the new requirements were not met in 2010, Duffy said, jumps racing would finish at the end of that season and a transition fund would be established to help jockeys and trainers.