Jumps Racing is the Deadliest form of Horse Racing
In 2023, 1 in 38 jumps horses were killed on track. 1 in 10 of all jumps horses fell, and many more sustained horrific injuries. Victoria is the only state in Australia that still permits jumps racing.
At least 84 percent of All Horses Suffer during Jumps Races
In the 2023 season, 1 in 38 jumps horses lost their lives on the track. Furthermore, 1 in 10 of Victoria’s jumps horses fell during a race. According to the 2023 steward reports, an astonishing 84% of all the horses who started in jumps races, had difficulty clearing the obstacles, suffered serious physical damage, died, or was struggling too much to even finish the race.
These statistics provide clear evidence that jump horses are pushed far beyond their natural limits - all for the sake of gambling and entertainment.
At the end of 2009, after a particularly large number of dead and injured jumps horses in Victoria, Racing Victoria announced that the 2010 jumps racing season would be the last. However, following strong pressure from within the racing industry, the decision was overturned only 7 weeks later and jumps racing was allowed to continue.
Later in South Australia, following years of continuous campaigning by the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses and Animal Liberation South Australia, jumps racing was finally made illegal in 2022. Whilst this was an enormous victory for the horses in South Australia, it still left Victoria as the only state in Australia to continue on with this cruel and dangerous form of racing.
St Arnicca was one of the five Victorian jumps horses who got fatally injured and subsequently killed in 2023.
Jumps Racing is Inherently Dangerous and Cruel to Horses
When horses are jumps racing, they are confronted with the task of galloping as fast as they can whilst being forced to jump obstacles in a crowd of other horses attempting to do the same. The stress, the crowding, and the high speed makes it difficult for the horses to negotiate the obstacles. Jumps racing has been found to be almost 20 times more deadly for horses compared to flat racing.
Jumps racing in Victoria, Australia, consist of Hurdle races and Steeplechase. Both types of jumps races are typically longer than flat races - some are up to 5.5 kilometres long and has up to 33 obstacles along the way for the horses to clear. As the horse tires towards the end of the race, the risk of falling and sustaining deadly injuries increases.
The additional permission to whip the horses as they fatigue and try to slow down, only further increases the risk of deadly injuries. Research shows that horses who are being whipped, are at greater than 7 times the risk of falling compared to horses who aren’t being whipped.
Last Stop for Used Racehorses: Jumps Racing
Horses must be at least 4 years of age before starting in a jumps race. Most jumps horses are therefore older horses that have already had a career in flat races. These horses have typically endured many flat races but deemed no longer fast enough.
Although these horses must be particularly tough considering the years of wear and tear on their bodies and minds, they also commonly enter jumps racing with a considerable number of old racing injuries, which - on top of their higher age - puts them at increased risk of fatal injuries and falls.
At this point in time, it would be common sense to most sensible horse owners to either retire their faithful equine partner after an intensive competition career, or at least slow their exercise down to light trail riding. Instead, for many in the racing industry, entering their used racehorses into jumps racing can be a way of squeezing a few extra dollars out of them.
A heartbreaking example of the latter is the Victorian jumps racing star San Remo, who earned his owner $300,000 when he won the Grand National Hurdle race in 2023. He endured 87 races, including 21 jumps races. San Remo miraculously survived three disastrous falls before he was killed after sustaining his final injury in February 2024.
Jumps Racing can Never be Safe
Since 2001 there have been five reviews - 2001, 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2010 - of jumps racing commissioned by Racing Victoria Ltd. Each review implemented several changes to increase safety such as adjusting height and composition of the obstacles, but they have made little or no difference to the fall and fatality rate of the jumps horses.
The only consistent factor found successful in decreasing horse deaths and falls, has been to pull the horse out of the race as soon as the jockey noticed the horse was struggling. Then why run the races in the first place?
Already back in 1991, the Australian Senate Select Committee on Animal Welfare found that there was an inherent conflict between animal welfare and jumps racing which could not be eliminated by improvement to jumps or racetracks. As a result, the Committee concluded that state governments should phase out jump racing over a three-year period. The New South Wales Government banned jumps racing in June 1997.
As of 2024, Victoria remains the only state in Australia to continue jumps races. Please urge Racing Victoria to end this cruel and pointless ‘sport’ once and for all.
South Australia banned jumps racing in 2022. Urge Victoria to do the same.
