A century later: RSPCA Victoria continues calls for a ban on jumps racing

The 2024 jumps racing season has sadly ended with a devastating number of horses suffering catastrophic injuries.

Banning jumps racing is one of our big animal welfare goals for the next two years, due to the inherent high risk of injury and death for horses.

But did you know that RSPCA first advocated for a ban on steeplechasing in the 1920s?

1927 ‘OVER THE FENCE?’, The Sun (Sydney, NSW: 1910 – 1954), 4 May, p. 23. (FINAL EXTRA), viewed 02 Sep 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223620272

RSPCA Victoria is strongly opposed to jumps racing and has been trying to obtain a ban due to the human and animal welfare risks since at least 1927.

Jumps racing is sometimes described by its proponents as a second chance for racehorses, but in reality, horses who should be enjoying their well-earned retirement are facing a chance of injury up to four times higher than in regular flats racing based on a study of the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Why is jumps racing different to flats racing?

Jumps racing is a different endeavour to flats racing and carries a higher set of risks. This is because jumps racing requires groups of horses to race at fast speeds toward obstacles, for longer distances, and carrying more weight than in flats racing. This combination results in fatigued horses who are more likely to suffer injuries and death.

Notably, there are many gaps in the published literature and publicly available data on horse injuries and deaths. Despite repeated requests for transparent reporting from the industry over the last century, RSPCA Victoria still relies on doing the work ourselves to compile these statistics from de-centralised sources, as we did in the 1920s:

1927 ‘STEEPLECHASING CRASHES’, The Herald (Melbourne, Vic.: 1861 – 1954), 5 May, p. 1., viewed 02 Sep 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243922525

Getting to a ban

The Victorian Labor Party first pledged to ban jumps racing in 1976, the same year RSPCA Victoria began campaigning publicly for jumps racing to end.

Just over 30 years later, the government announced a ban would come into effect from 2010 onwards in Victoria. However, following intense industry lobbying and promises to improve the safety of the sport, the ban was lifted. Outlawed in South Australia in 2022, Victoria now remains the only place in Australia where jumps racing still occurs.

Sadly, the fatality rate for horses competing in the 2024 jumps racing season is no better than it was fourteen years ago. Despite all attempts at improving safety, the industry has not been able to provide a consistently safer form of jumps racing.

A century later, RSPCA Victoria remains steadfast in our opposition to this practice.

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Image: a horse falls at the final steeple, Caulfield, Victoria, Australia, 1897. Murphy, F. E. (1897). Horse racing and steeplechasing in Victoria and Tasmania.