Racehorse TALK

Brad Waters
Monday, 17 August 2009


Racing Victoria Limited will not participate in this year’s Australia versus Ireland jumps jockey series but an international jumping series is in the pipeline for next season.

The Irish riders arrive this week to begin the series against South Australian jumps jockeys after Racing Victoria pulled the plug on the series because of “limited interest” in the event.

Australian Jumping Racing Association boss Rodney Rae said RVL had also decided not to bear the financial burden for the series.

“The Irish racing side of things is struggling a little bit financially and they couldn’t afford to contribute to the series,” he said. “RVL decided the limited interest in the event was not worth shouldering the full cost of the series and decided not to participate.

“South Australia stepped in and they are hosting the series and hopefully it goes well for them.”

Rae said the AJRA and RVL were working on a new concept which would bring the world’s best jumps jockeys to Victoria to take on Australia’s best jumps riders.

“We’re exploring the possibility of expanding the series to include riders from Ireland, the UK, America, Japan and New Zealand next season,” Rae said. “Having these riders here in our winter would generate enormous interest.”

Rae said he was not concerned by the uncertain future facing jumps racing, saying the AJRA is continuing to operate on the presumption jumps racing would continue.

“We are not walking on eggshells with our planning,” Rae said. “RVL has indicated to us they are supportive of jumps racing and we are working accordingly.

“We’ll be making our submissions when RVL do the review of the sport but we are conducting our business on the understanding jumps racing will continue next season.”