Departures 2009

Jump racing in Australia might be added to the list.



According to JA McGrath a decision is to be made this week to ban the sport down under, although curiously he ascribes this to 'Racing Victoria' (I assume that's the state authority rather than an individual?) so quite what juristinction a state legislature for Victoria would have over Tasmania and South Australia (the other two states where the sports permitted) I don't know? But it sounds to me as if Jim's jumping the stalls a bit if that's the case, by extendign the ban to the country.

He basically puts it down to 3 deaths in the recent Warrnambool Carnival as being the final straw. variously cited also are;

a) The preminence of flat racing ensuring that jumps only attracts poor quality dross that is borderline capable of racing.
b) Problems with firm going (not too surprising, even I could have worked that one out in Australia)
c) A vociferous and well organised 'anti' campaign
d) The appeasement of the 'antis' by the racing authorities into introducing softer obstacles that horses show no respect for and have learned to plough through, rather than jump over.
e) point (d) has led to racing getting faster, which when combined with typical Aussie going, and poor quality animals contesting jumps races, result sin carnage
f) A decline in quality of jumps races and the inevitable fall away in attendances and interest in the sport
 
I'm having a very interesting discussion with Grand Armee about this on another racing website (she lives in Oz and works in the racing industry there). However, apart from everything Jim says, have you taken a look at a photo of what passes for an Aussie steeplechase jump? It's a bright yellow bit of nylon brush, designed for horses to specifically brush through it, at enormous speed. It goes against a basic given for jumping: obstacles need to be sturdy enough, or challenging enough, that horses respect them. They're supposed to go over them (with the exception of the bullfinch, of course), not through them.

This absurdity looks like the nylon brush hurdles which greyhounds dash over - they're made so as not to knock the dog at all, should he brush through them. In fact, Grand Armee tells me that it's actually called 'brushing' in Oz, so no wonder they're having a lot of fatals. Horses have been evolving in accord with the way we've been training them over centuries. What they haven't been taught to do is to run at 35 mph at flimsy little bits of nylon brush and go through them - this requires a whole new way of dealing with traditional presentation and locomotion.

In chasing, we don't hurl our horses as fast as possible at obstacles we know won't give way (unless they're hit by KAUTO STAR). We expect them to use their hocks to enable a parabola over the jump (or their best effort at it), not to run largely off the forehand and flatten out over them, doggy-style. We get enough fatalities as it is, due to pitching, rotational falls, and legs giving way on landing. And that's even with horses who are used to chasing. Now, the Australians are going for a totally different dynamic, pushing their horses over absurd 'brushing' fences, which don't require any presentation at the jump by the rider, and which clearly don't encourage jumping safely at all.

Jeez, any 12 y.o. who showjumps their pony could've told them what the outcome of this exercise is political correctness would be.
 
krizon said:
Oh, missed you, Martin! But I was exiled to the railway crossing gate until after the last pony race, although I did make it to the centre course caff for a sausage sarnie during mid-afternoon. Glad to say that both Colin Bolger and horse escaped from their nasty incident unscathed. I was sitting on an ancient chair watching them go past and there was this godawmighty CRACK! and some shouting from the other jocks as the rails broke, and then Colin hit the ground dead flat, and stayed down for a bit. Maruco, I only re-started working for Plumpton during their 2-day Easter meeting, and this, but I've put my name down for next season (starts September 30) now that previous family commitments aren't in conflict with the many Sunday meetings.

IS: all the pony riders were taken on a full walk of the course beforehand by Someone In Charge, given a view of the weighing room, etc. Peter Crate's son, George, is a fine wee rider and a lovely little chap. Peter had the Flat horse KATIYPOUR, among others, some of you'll remember - now peacefully retired from the game. They're a very keen PtP family with their own horses in the Surrey Union. Seems that no-one was expecting a mile, though! All the mums and riders I spoke with were surprised, since they'd been told it'd be either six or seven furlongs, and several ponies had never travelled that distance before. I figured I'd be the kid on TILLY in the mile - tailed off 'in another county', but still having an enjoyable flip round the course. Really sweet to see a proper little pony that didn't look as if it'd been trained by Richard Hannon!
Click to expand...

I was up near the open ditch down the backstraight with my friends family and a friend of theirs family too. We weren't far from you Kri - someone brought a monster Oakley horsebox in for the pony racing.

Some great riders and we saw them walking the course, particularly impressed with Bridget Andrews who was the girl who rode the second winner - probably too tall to be a jockey but a very good rider. If I read the racing school site properly she has an 85% strike rate in pony races (not all on O B One).
 
Yes - that fantastic pale blue one! :-O A real stunnah, wasn't it? Had to be around the £200,000 mark. Brian Oakley's such a nice owner, too - he won our big trophy race last season at Brighton and because I'm now doing winning connections there, we got to have a decent natter about the box business.
 
I think you've got me confused with someone else, old bean. Actually, I thought he was Oakley Construction (as in homes and offices) until a couple of years ago, so it shows how much I'm a 'racing insider'!
 
By Brian Fleming7.00PM 13 MAY 2009
IRISH champion jumps trainer Willie Mullins has called for an investigation into the equine fatalities that marred the recent meeting at Killarney.
Six horses died at the course on Sunday - including the Mullins-trained Imperial Hills - and there was another fatality on Monday - but the consensus had been that Sunday's events in particular had been a freak occurrence.
However Mullins, who did not attend the opening day of the three-day May meeting and who withdrew all his runners the following day, said on Wednesday: "I spoke to Noel Meade of the Trainers' Association and said I was concerned and wasn't happy. To lose six horses in one day doesn't add up and I'm not buying the freak story."
 
I suppose it depends on how many horses Killarney's three-day event manages to polish off every time it's run, as to whether this was exceptionally high, or 'just the normal amount' of deaths, but having a very high-profile trainer like Mr Mullins not taking the usual story for good enough is heartening. It might concentrate minds a bit more to see if there were any factors which contributed to the fatalities. Fair enough if, in the end, there weren't, but as has been said, if the track is unusually brisk and sharp, perhaps some horses weren't suited to running on it.
 
An enquiry would be no harm, I suppose, if it helps to set minds at rest or to avoid similar carnage in the future.

But it's telling, perhaps that it is Mullins, who didn't attend, who is calling for one while his jockey Ruby Walsh, who obviously did, and got injured, said conditions were fine.
 
Yes, poor horse was trying to grab 3rd when everything went awry. I see he was ambulanced off, rather than pts on the track, presumably because it looked a bit better to the public, him having broken down right in front of the post.
 
You're wrong there Krizon I'm afraid, he was shot on the course with all the screens up and removed by the meat van. He looked to have shattered his near fore joint, it went at a right angle. They quickly pulled him up and dismounted and got the screens up. The ambulance came over with the vet, but within a few moments the call was made for the truck to come, a telling sign there is nothing they can do.

The full screens were put up and the horse was laid to rest and removed in the meat lorry. The ambulance initially came on the off chance of just an injury, but was never used.

Not nice scenes, especially when in the stand up high you can actually see over the screens.

Was a decent horse and a sad loss to a small trainer.
 
Oh, I saw the regular ambulance (not the knacker van) going down the track, and assumed they'd managed to haul him off in that, to put him down at the stables, Flame. The tv viewers didn't get to see the rest of the procedure, of course. Thanks for the correction.
 
In my opinion they took too long to sort out Tropical Strait and move him. It seemed to take them far too long to shoot him, put him on the meat wagon and go, all in front of racegoers.
 
I think it was the quickest pts I have seen on any track. having followed Tropical for some time we were truly apalled that he broke down right in front of us, and I agree it feld like ages until the screens where erected, but in fact they were there pretty quick. David was there within seconds, in fact I still tried to come to terms with what I had to witness when he already zoomed past us underneath the rails. the horse was certainly not shot (or is this this what you say?), David would never be one to have a horse suffer for longer than neccessary. As screens with a roof are yet to be invented I am afraid there will always be a spot on every track from where you would be able to watch these incidents, if you really want to have that sort of sneak preview. It was a horrible injury and certainly there was nothing that could have been done to save Tropical Straight. A cruel und huge blow for trainer and owner.
 
not sure how else you can sort a situation like this out. Tropical Straight was not able to walk anymore, and as the injury happend a few yards from crossing the line and he finally came to a halt right after, what possibilities were there? It was just the most unfortunate accident in the most unfortunate spot, and a lovely horse lost.
 
A sad footnote to BORDER ARTIST's crash on the downhill run at Brighton last meeting: contrary to happy hopes to retire the horse, the course vet found he'd injured his pelvis and the decision was taken to put him to sleep there that evening. Jeff Pearce felt that it wouldn't have been fair to him or any future pleasure rider to compromise safety or welfare, should the injury occur again. He and the yard were pretty upset to lose the old feller.
 
How awful, it sounded so positive, shocking how wrong it all went. Poor horse, was such a genuine old guy and had offers of good homes for him. Shame. :(
 
Another bummer: BRONSON F'SURE, Adam Pogson's nice 10 y.o. chaser, following PU at Wetherby on 21 May, due to slipping the opposite hock tendon to the one he slipped over a year ago. Adam said that at his age, being unable to be ridden again for his or his rider's safety, even if mended after over another year off work, arthritis would be the next thing to worry about and, thus, the decision was made to put him down. Bronson loved to go from the front and tackle his fences with zest and zing, rather in the way that the beloved EI EI did. He'd won nearly £20,000 for the Pogsons, in only 16 chases, so was far from untalented.
 
Very upset about both Border - I know one of his former owners quite well and always followed him - and of course Tropical Strait. Very upsetting for poor David at Newbury and right in front of the stand of all places, having a good day out no doubt with all his local chums. It was a grim week and contributed to my watching almost no racing this last week or so, not that I've had much time.
 
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