Eric Musgrove is certain that the new conditions set by RVL will increase the life span of jumps racing in Victoria.By Gavin Staindl
CRANBOURNE-BASED trainer Eric Musgrove believes that new standards set by Racing Victoria Limited (RVL) will save the jumps industry from abolition.
Racing Victoria last Tuesday set a number of conditions that the Australian Jumps Racing Association (AJRA) must meet if jumps racing is to continue in Victoria beyond 2010.
And according to Musgrove this is the lifeline that jumps racing needed to save the lives of many horses.
“They have made alterations to the fences and the brush will be changed so it is going back to the days when it was safer,” Musgrove said.
The RVL has set a number of conditions on the continuation of the sport, including a reduction of the fatality rate by about 50 per cent as well as the reduction of the fall rate and increasing the amount of horses starting in a race.
The AJRA has also developed a range of initiatives agreed to by RVL to help it meet those targets.
Initiatives include modifications to hurdles and padding, closer jockey supervision, improved schooling and trialing facilities and a deferred start to the racing season to give horses and jockeys the chance to get used to the changes.
RVL chairman Michael Duffy said that as the jumps racing industry had agreed to the RVL conditions, and providing that they are met in 2010, the RVL will agree to continue jumps racing for another season.
“If the new requirements are not met in 2010, jumps racing will cease at the end of that season and a transition fund will be established to assist jockeys and trainers,” Duffy said.
“If the jumps racing community meets the new conditions in both the 2010 and 2011 seasons, then RVL will commit to a further three year program.”
Musgrove has faith that the sport will continue beyond 2011 as it has been proven that there is enough support to make it work.
“You just have to look at the enormous support behind jumps racing since the decision was made to stop the sport,” Musgrove said.
“It raised $60 million last year for the industry and associates and it is a good winter spectacle,” Musgrove said.
With only two horses falling victim to the sport in the last half of the season, both Musgrove and the VRL chairman have hopes of a revival for the sport.
“There have been many attempts to improve jumps racing in the past, but we now have a specific set of agreed conditions with the jumps racing community to determine the sport’s future,” Duff said.
In November last year Racing Victoria announced plans to discontinue jumps racing after the 2010 season after the adoption of safety recommendation the previous year failed to reduce the number of fatalities in the sport.
In 2009 there were eight horse fatalities in Victorian jumps racing with twelve killed in the 2008 season.
