A HORSE has died after a fall in a jumps race at Morphettville in South Australia.
The accident drew immediate and angry fire from anti-animal cruelty campaigners, Adelaide Now reports.
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Nine-year-old Tradesman’s Choice was injured when he fell over the third-last hurdle during the running of the 3200m Tapestry Wines Hurdle, the horse's 120th start, and was then destroyed.
Jockey Justin Potter was taken to hospital with concussion.
Trainer Gordon Richards was upset by the tragedy.
"He's been around the stable for so long and he's so smart,'' he said.
Thoroughbred Racing SA chairman Philip Bentley said the incident would be investigated in more detail but declared the jumps season would continue as planned.
But Colin Thomas, the SA campaign co-ordinator for the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses, said three horses had been killed in South Australian jumps races this year, including two at Oakbank.
“How many more deaths must occur before this brutal chapter in our ‘sporting’ history is brought to a close?”, he said.
“The time has come for the Racing Minister Michael Wright to bring jumps racing to an end in South Australia.”
“His repeated claim of keeping a ‘watchful eye’ over the jumps industry is laughable. He must now send the industry to the knackery by exercising his power to amend the Animal Welfare Act (1985) to make jumps racing an offence in this state.”
The RSPCA says recent safety improvements in the controversial sport have failed.
"As one of only two states in Australia that still allows this cruel and barbaric practice, the South Australian community should be outraged," RSPCA SA chief executive officer Steve Lawrie said in a statement.
He said the death of Tradesman's Choice "clearly demonstrates that jumps races cannot be conducted safely and humanely" and that recent revisions to the sport intended to make it safer "have comprehensively failed".
"Thoroughbred Racing SA has blood on its hands ... and must take responsibility for this latest tragedy," Mr Lawrie said.
"We urge TRSA to remove jumps racing from the South Australian racing calendar immediately."
Only Victoria and South Australia continue to have jumps racing on their calendars, with the sport currently in a trial period in Victoria.
Read more on Adelaide Now.
With AAP
