29/06/08

THERE was nothing "grand" about what was supposed to be one of the highlights of the jumps season at Flemington yesterday.

In the $252,000 Grand National Hurdle, won by first-season jumper Derringer, only four of the 13 starters finished and the "field" had to be directed around the second last jump because of a fallen jockey being tended on the track.

Of the nine horses who failed to finish, two had to be euthanised and even the most ardent fans agreed it was a sad day for jumps racing.

Two protesters were removed from the course after they tried to wave placards while another two were yelling insults after the race.

They need not have bothered because everyone at Flemington realised they had witnessed a low point in jumps racing at a time when the sport has been under pressure from various quarters, including the animal-rights movement, the Racing Minister Rob Hulls and even senior racing officials.

"If anyone thinks that today's events are an acceptable by-product of jumps racing they have little regard for horses and jockeys," Hulls said last night. "I have spoken with the chairman of RVL and he intends to bring forward the normal RVL appraisal of jumps racing so that I can have their report within the next month. Today's tragic incidents make these actions imperative and I hope all stakeholders will get behind and assist with my review."

Trainer Robert Smerdon, a three-time winner of the Grand National, who had Eveready, one of the two horses fatally injured yesterday, said it was an "appalling sight" to see the horses tumbling over yesterday.

Eveready actually broke down on the flat rounding the home turn just as he was being hailed the likely winner of Australia's richest hurdle over 4350 metres and 16 obstacles.

The other horse to die was Charted, who broke a hind leg after a jump near the 1400 metres.

Several other trainers with runners and Robbie Laing, who trains many jumpers but did not have a starter in the National, all agreed that the horses were going too fast on what was a firm track.

Laing also said he believed that jumps horses were not properly prepared these days, and the smaller modular jumps introduced to make the sport safer were not the answer. The consensus among the jumps people is that if the obstacles were higher it would slow the horses.

Yesterday the pace, made by the David Hayes-trained Danever, was "breakneck" and many of his rivals got tired chasing. Danever also had had enough by the top of the straight and was pulled out of the race before the finish. Jockey Adrian Garraway was taken to Epworth hospital for observation after he was knocked unconscious when he fell from Pasco on the first circuit. None of the other jockeys were injured.

As chief steward Des Gleeson said: "That wasn't one of the better spectacles."