Australian state bans hurdle racing

Hurdle racing will end in the Australian state of Victoria after the 2010 season, a racing body said on Friday.

Hurdle racing will end in the Australian state of Victoria after the 2010 season, a racing body said on Friday. The decision follows a series of deaths that blighted this year's jumps season.

The decision follows a series of deaths that blighted this year's jumps season.

Racing Victoria Limited (RVL) said a programme of high-weight races will be scheduled for the 2011 season to help jumps jockeys, trainers and horses make the transition to non-hurdle racing.

"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," RVL chairman Michael Duffy told reporters.

"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.

"The recommendation of six previous reviews had been implemented without any sustained reduction in incidents."

RVL adopted all the essential safety recommendations made by Judge David Jones in his 200-page Jumps Racing Review, which was delivered in December last year.

Despite the changes, eight horses died in jumps races this season, after 12 were killed last year.

RVL conducted an urgent review in July and decided to continue jumps racing with changed conditions, pending the outcome of its final review which was handed down on Friday.

The decision means the three-day Grand Annual Steeplechase carnival in Warrnambool in Victoria's west next May will be its last after 138 years but RVL has promised funds to help promote the 2011 carnival which will be conducted as a flat racing event.