Thursday, 19 June 2025

Jumps racing

Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (17:41): (1740) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Racing, and the action that I seek is for a formal review into the death of racehorse Treasured Crown, who was killed in a jumps race following a catastrophic leg injury at Sandown on 1 June. Treasured Crown did not even last a single year as a jumps horse before he was killed. He had an undisclosed prior embargo and two significant racing breaks, known as spells, during his career – a clear indication that he had sustained a serious injury before his avoidable death. Yet despite these obvious red flags, he returned to compete in a high-risk jumps race.

To date four horses, including Treasured Crown, have been killed during the jumps racing season just this year in Victoria. Disturbingly, Racing Victoria does not include trial deaths in its official fatality count. Eight-year-old Wilewink and six-year-old Maatsuyker, who were both killed as a result of injuries sustained in jumps trials, are effectively invisible in the data that guides public reporting and, importantly, industry reform. Nine-year-old Zedstar’s death occurred off the track following a race day injury at Pakenham on 13 April. Only after direct contact with his trainer has this been confirmed, as no detail was included in the official stewards report beyond noting that he was lame post race. These omissions are unacceptable. They paint an incomplete and misleading picture of the true death toll of jumps racing in Victoria. One in every 41 horses to race in Victoria this year has died. When accounting for both races and trials, one in every 39 horses has died, and with only 47 per cent of the jumps calendar completed, we are on track to see as many as 10 fatalities by this season’s end. This is not a margin of error, it is a pattern.

Racing Victoria claim to have implemented safety upgrades this season, including modified jumps, stricter eligibility criteria and mandatory competency trials. Yet these measures have failed to prevent fatalities, and Victoria remains the only state in the entire country that still permits jumps racing. The current season was supposed to reflect improved safety standards, but the statistics I have shared this evening tell a very different story. I call on the minister to initiate a formal review into the death of Treasured Crown and to consider a broader inquiry into these so-called safety measures, which are failing the very horses they are meant to protect.