Warrnambool Racing Club chief says urging members to vote at Oakbank election was to show support for jumps racing

Warrnambool Racing Club chief executive Tom O'Connor urged its more than 2000 members to become Oakbank Racing Club members and vote for a "pro-jumps committee" in a bid to reinstate jumps racing at the popular interstate carnival.

Racing South Australia announced in October 2021 that jumps races would be removed from its calendar from 2022, due to "declining participation levels and horse numbers (which) have made the industry unsustainable and unworkable."

In the email to members, O'Connor said the WRC wanted to continue to support South Australian Jumps Racing Association (SAJRA) and on Wednesday he said that remained the case.

"If you want to see jumps racing return to Oakbank you need to join (or re-join) the club today so that you can vote to elect a new pro-jumps racing committee," it said.

O'Connor informed members of a Special General Meeting at Oakbank on June 10 when a brand new committee of nine people would be elected to run the event, following the former board members' resignations.

"Electing a pro-jumps racing committee is our last chance of seeing jumps racing restored at Oakbank," and if a pro-jumps committee wasn't elected there was "no hopes of jumps racing returning to the Easter Carnival," the email said.

"This will ultimately and inevitably lead to its tragic demise if the historically low 2022 attendance figures are any indication of what is to come."

Racing Victoria issued a statement on Wednesday saying it was unaware of the correspondence until it was sent "and does not endorse the actions of the WRC which were totally inappropriate."

Racing South Australia chairman Rob Rorrison said it was "unconscionable that a Victorian racing club is trying to influence the membership and ultimately the governance of a South Australian club", in its only interview, published in the Adelaide Advertiser on Wednesday.

Regardless of the committee elected, Mr Rorrison said the decision to discontinue jumps racing scheduling in the state was "final, irrevocable and will not be reconsidered no matter which committee is elected at Oakbank Racing Club".

When speaking to The Standard on Wednesday, O'Connor said he wasn't trying to stack the board but to encourage its members to support jumps racing and help to promote the sport.

It's not the first time the club has forwarded SAJRA correspondence to its members.

"We were forwarding the information around from the jumps association about how our members could support jumps racing," O'Connor said.

"It's to support the people who are pro-jumps racing in South Australia with their journey to push to have it reinstated."

When asked if he regretted sending the email he said "the intention for us is to support people who are pro-jumps in the South Australian jumps community. That was our intention from the outset and that was what we were looking to do - to communicate their message to our members."

He said it was the individual member's choice to join the club or vote for future committee members.

"That's always going to be an individual members choice and they also had to make a financial commitment to do that, so we gave them the information about what that looked like and it was up to them to make their individual choice."

He said his move was for the betterment of the sport and the club wanted to see it prosper in the future.

"We get great support from South Australia and have had great sport from Oakbank and South Australian jumps trainers and the industry over a long period of time so if they're successful in South Australia they can support our carnival and what we do in the jumping space."

Asked if he was surprised with the media attention the email received he said: "It is what it is, again our intention was to support jumps racing. It's something that's just occurred."

He said he stood by what he sent out and still encouraged members to join if they wanted to.

"We have a national membership base so were not just talking to Victorians. We're talking to people all over Australia and we've co-shared members for a long period of time. They're traditionally supporters of jumps racing."

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