Jumps Racing
 

Just watched a steeplechase race in france with 17 runners over 4000m and interestingly no horses fell, a few were pulled up when out of contention, surely vic racing would have to look at these overseas races for ideas...are these international horses just better jumpers? Is it because Australian horses are bred to be flat horses and take to the jumps if they are no good, where overseas i am guessing horses are bred to be jumpers.

What I think is a main factor is the height of the jumps, overseas jumps are taller which means horses have to slow down more before jumping where as here in aus because the jumps a smaller the horses can jump them going almost full pace meaning ther is more room for error.

The jumps industry in Victoria is apparently developing taller jumps. What they really need to do is make the race distances longer (like with overseas races) so the pace of the race is slower. Add that to the taller jumps and we should see less falls and more importantly less deaths.

I think its great that they are giving them a chance to fix things. Taller jumps will help, at the moment they dont even jump in hurdles they just step over them. Look at the size of jumps in nz and hardly any falls!! And I think the jockeys pull up horses out of contention. Just hope it works so all these people continue to make a living, and I would love the chance to go to warrnambool and oakbank!