Racing boss attacks RSPCA over jumps racing

A day after the animal protection group’s Victorian president Hugh Wirth branded Warrnambool’s racecourse a horse “killing fields” following the death of maiden hurdler Shine The Armour on Tuesday, Mr Rae fired back.

The president of the Australian Jumps Racing Association described Dr Wirth as a “grandstanding hypocrite” who was “stained with the blood” of 70,000 animals the RSPCA killed each year.

“It’s unconscionable that the RSPCA is prepared to spend tens of thousands of dollars advertising against jumping racing while they are lethally injecting animals at a rate of 200 per day,” he said.

“If they were genuine about animal welfare they would be using this money to re-home and extend the lives of the many animals they arbitrarily euthanise every day.”

He said the RSPCA discriminated in its approach to animal welfare, considering the lives of some animals as more important than others.

Dr Wirth called on Premier Ted Baillieu to immediately ban the sport after the death of the Hamilton-trained Shine The Armour.

“Warrnambool, of course, is the killing fields for horses. That’s how bad it is,” he said on Tuesday. “Every time they do something at Warrnambool there are deaths.”

Dr Wirth last night scoffed at Mr Rae’s comments, describing them as “emotional bullshit”.

“It’s not even worth commenting on until he gets his facts right,” he said. “It’s morally wrong (jumps racing), the community doesn’t like it. The government is pandering to a minority group of people.”

Dr Wirth said he would not watch today’s Grand Annual Steeplechase. I don’t have to consider myself in any way a supporter of this butchery.”

Racing Victoria last night refuted media reports Shine The Armour had suffered a heart attack.

Communications manager Shaun Kelly said the autopsy had found the cause of death to be a broken neck.

Yesterday’s only jumps race, the feature Galleywood Hurdle, was run without incident.