RACING Minister Rob Hulls is facing renewed pressure to ban jumps racing after four horses were put down in four days.
Dashing jumper Hanging Rock became the latest casualty after a fall at the last hurdle at Yarra Valley racetrack yesterday. Hanging Rock held a winning lead before breaking his off fore elbow and had to be put down. Jockey Trent Wells wasn’t hurt. The track’s condition was later downgraded to heavy. Victorian Advocates For Animal president Lawrence Pope yesterday called for Mr Hulls to end jumps racing. “What makes this (Hanging Rock) particularly nasty even by jumps racing standards is that he died at a bushfire charity event with many children present,” he said. “With 60 jumps races left in the long season, this year is shaping up to be just as bad as last year and the year before that.”
Other jumpers to be put down include Shrogginet, after breaking a leg in a Cranbourne trial on Thursday, and Taken At The Flood and Wool Zone after falls at Morphettville on Saturday.