Jumps racing is a cruel and dangerous ‘sport’ in which horses are forced to jump metre-high fences at high speed. It can be up to 20 times more dangerous to horses than flat racing, and many of the injuries sustained during jumps races can be horrific.
Jumps racing only continues in the state of Victoria. All other Australian states ended the outdated ‘sport’; Queensland stopped it in 1903, and South Australia banned it most recently in 2022.
Sadly, jumps racing is one of the many grim fates of ‘failed’ and ‘retired’ Thoroughbred racing horses. Jumps races are generally longer than the average flat race, meaning the horses are forced to run a greater distance while also jumping metre-high obstacles at high speed.
Pushed to their limits, catastrophic injuries are common, and horses are continuously killed as a result. In August 2024, three horses were killed during a single jumps racing event, and two jockeys were injured.
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Racetracks aren’t the only places where horses bred into the racing industry suffer. These sensitive and social animals can lead a restricted life and can be stabled alone for most of every day, let out only to train or compete. They can also end up as ‘wastage’ when the industry has no further use for them. Some are sold on, and others who are not wanted may be sent to knackeries to be killed for ‘pet food’ or sent for slaughter for human consumption. Following a lengthy investigation by the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses, the slaughter of racehorses in Australia was exposed on ABC 7.30.
Gambling money and human ‘entertainment’ can never justify what each victim of the jumps racing industry is forced to endure. Horses, like all animals, deserve proper protection from such unnecessary danger, as well as the freedom to express their natural behaviours.
As long as horses are forced to race, the list of those whose lives were cut short will continue to grow. Your decisions and actions can help prevent these sensitive animals from suffering in the racing industry:
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