Cranbourne jumps trainer Chris Hyland described the current hurdles as ‘too soft’.
By Glen Atwell
RVL’s independent judge David Jones’ ruling to cancel the remaining jumps races was based on safety issues associated with the modular hurdles currently used.
The decision was made ‘in the interests of jockey and horse safety’.
One hurdle race remains in the current season, a jumps event at Yarra Valley on Sunday.
That race will instead be run as a high-weight, flat race.
Mr Griffiths said Cranbourne jumps trainers were providing feedback to RVL in relation to improving the safety of hurdle races.
Successful jumps trainer Chris Hyland said the decision to cancel the season’s remaining jumps races was common sense.
“This is a positive for the industry,” he said.
“The feedback from the trainers was that things needed to change, so it made sense to cancel the races in there interest of safety.”
“Horses don’t respect the current hurdles because they’re too soft,” Mr Hyland said.
“They clip the hurdle once and realise there is no incentive to jump right over them.”
“Next season, there will be big changes, but that’s just something we’ll all have to deal with.”
