The Moe Racing Club is deeply saddened by the passing last weekend of our former chairman and life member Mr Ron Jones.  Ron was elected to the committee in 1985 and served the local racing community on the committee until 2003 with a period as the chairman from 1993 until 1997.  In recognition of his service and dedication to the club, Ron was made a life member in 2002.

Ron has been an active participant in the club and community for many years and with his wife Betty was a regular attendant at all Moe racedays.  Ron was also actively involved in owning, training and racing thoroughbreds with his son Ian, a local Moe trainer.

“People like Ron are the reason community organisations and raceclubs in particular continue to survive and serve the interests of the local community” said current chairman Paul Davis.  “Ron was well liked and respected in the racing industry and his passing is a great loss to us all.”

The Board of Racing Victoria Limited (RVL) has today determined that the 2010 jumps racing season will be the last season of jumps racing in Victoria.

A program of highweight races will be scheduled for the 2011 season to assist with the transition for jockeys, trainers and horses.

RVL has also committed $1 million to a Transition and Marketing Fund to ensure the famous Warrnambool May Carnival maintains its position as one of Australia’s most popular and successful regional racing events.

Following a series of reviews undertaken in 1991, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2005 and 2008, the RVL Board undertook an internal review of the 2009 season which examined the current state of jumps racing, a five year trend analysis of key data and took into consideration submissions from various parties including the Australian Jumps Racing Association (AJRA) and RSPCA.

RVL Chairman Michael Duffy said that jumps racing had been an important contributor to the history and evolution of thoroughbred racing in Victoria for many years.

“This has been an extremely tough decision for the Board,” Duffy said.

“The RVL Board is duty bound to always act in the best interests of the long term sustainability of Victorian thoroughbred racing and to protect the industry’s image and reputation within the broader community.

“After careful consideration, it is the RVL Board’s view that there is an inevitability about the long term future of jumps racing and consequently, it is in the interests of all to provide some certainty and an appropriate transition to a Victorian racing industry without jumps 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.

“Despite the implementation of all of the safety recommendations of the Jones Report conducted in 2008, the incidence of falls and fatalities has continued to increase. The recommendations of six previous reviews had been implemented without any sustained reduction in incident rates.

“Over the coming months RVL will be working closely with the participants and clubs impacted by the decision to ensure an effective and smooth transition.

“The safety of riders and horses in all forms of racing is of paramount importance and we will continue to do whatever is reasonably practicable to make jumps racing less hazardous during its final year in 2010,” Duffy said.

Key Findings

The key findings of the review included:

• All key statistics for jumps racing have been declining over the past five years

• Falls in jumps racing increased from 3.02% in 2008 to 5.08% of total starters in 2009

• Fatalities increased from 1.17% of starters to 1.27% (with 8 fatalities in races)

• Total falls increased despite 41 (33%) less races being run during the 2009 season

• In 2009, jumps racing received 2.2% of total prize money, represented 2.0% of the total races and produced 0.78% of total wagering

• Key statistics and the design of obstacles in other jurisdictions were considered (UK, South Australia, Japan and New Zealand). The results of this work did not definitively identify a preferred alternative obstacle for use in Victoria

• Customer research revealed that 65% of Victorians surveyed believed that the incidents that occur in jumps racing are not an acceptable price to pay for the retention of the sport.

• The popularity of jumps racing amongst owners, trainers, punters and the general public has diminished over the past five years

Key Actions and Next Steps

RVL will develop in association with relevant parties, transition plans to address the following matters:

• Jumps racing program for the 2010 season to be completed during December 2009

• Transition program to highweight races for 2011 completed by end of January 2010

• Transition program for the 31 jumps jockeys to be established in association with the Victorian

Jockeys Association (VJA), during the first quarter of 2010

• Transition program for trainers and stable staff to be established in association with the Australian

Trainers Association (ATA) during the first quarter of 2010

• Develop in conjunction with interested parties, strategic initiatives in respect of equine welfare, in particular re-homing strategies and programming initiatives

• Development of a $1 million Transition and Marketing program for the Warrnambool May Carnival in association with the Warrnambool Racing Club and other relevant organisations

• Transition programs for clubs which conduct jumps racing to be considered on a club-by-club basis throughout 2010 via the Racecourse and Training Infrastructure Plan

• Development of a detailed safety program for the 2010 jumps racing season

MOE TRAINERS DOMINATE

While the two major horse awards went to Stony Creek and Bairnsdale prepared horses, Moe trainers dominated the other categories.

Allison Bennett and Peter Gelagotis tied for the leading Gippsland trainers with 16 wins apiece and both trained four city winners for the season.

Their best gallopers, King Hoaks and Big Col respectively, will be racing over the spring carnival.

Gippsland trainer with the best strike rate was Michael Templeton who had eight winners from 29 starters at a strike rate of 27.6%.

GIPPSLAND PREMIERS

Also recognised on the night were the respective Gippsland premiership winners and recipients were: leading trainer (Robbie Griffiths), leading jockey (Peter Mertens) and leading apprentice jockey (Brenton Avdulla).

Unfortunately none were in attendance, but for good reason. Griffiths and Mertens had engagements at the Moonee Valley meeting on the same evening as the awards, while Avdulla had a strong book of rides at Rosehill the following day.