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‘It’s not an ideal lead-up’: Horse death casts shadow over Warrnambool carnival
A troubling shadow has been cast over Warrnambool Racing Club’s May carnival after a former Melbourne Cup runner was euthanized and two jumps races abandoned at the regional track on Monday for safety reasons.
Budding hurdler Grand Promenade had to be put down after clipping the second-last obstacle and tumbling heavily in the opening race at Warrnambool on Monday – a 3200m maiden hurdle. Jockey Luke Dempsey was cleared of injury.
Former Melbourne Cup runner Grand Promenade, pictured here running at Flemington, was euthanised after falling at Warrnambool.Credit: Getty Images
The incident was blamed on a lack of visibility for the novice jumpers as they approached the 10th hurdle – an issue later rectified by extending a guiding rail.
Another horse, Gambu, was checked by the fallen Grand Promenade and dislodged rider Richard O’Donoghue, but neither were injured.
“A veterinary examination revealed Grand Promenade to have sustained a serious racing injury and the gelding was humanely euthanized,” Racing Victoria stewards said.
While the second jumps race was run and won without incident at Warrnambool on Monday, jockeys voted 10 to 1 to call off the last two jumps events on the program because sections of the track were considered too hard. All flat racing went ahead.
Warrnambool’s three-day May jumps carnival is the biggest regional racing event in Australia.Credit: Getty Images
Warrnambool Racing Club chief executive Luke Cann said the two issues were separate – the “sighting” problem with the second-last jump that led to Grand Promenade’s fall, and the firmness of the surface in the back straight.
Cann said the surface of the back straight was “a little bit more compact than we would have thought”, despite significant pre-meeting irrigation and a penetrometer reading of a soft track.
“With some drying conditions, in terms of that northerly breeze, the track became firmer as we went,” he said.
Firm tracks – rated a Good 4 or better – are considered unsuitable for jumps racing, traditionally a winter sport, because they are run at a faster speed and have a greater impact on the horses’ legs.
Victorian Jockeys’ Association CEO Matt Hyland blamed unseasonably dry weather for the state of Monday’s track, but said jockeys would take the same action if the surface presented as unsuitable for jumps racing in May.
Cann said he was confident the club could overcome Monday’s setbacks ahead of their bumper three-day carnival in five weeks’ time - the biggest regional racing event in Australia.
Cann said the club’s ground staff had been caught out by the recent announcement that four jumps races were being transferred to the Warrnambool program because a Terang meeting had been abandoned. Warrnambool was meant to be hosting all flat races.
“It is not an ideal lead up, but I have 100 per cent confidence in the team that the track will be right and prepared for May,” Cann said.
Warrnambool Racing Club is confident its track will be in suitable condition for May’s jump racing carnival.Credit: Getty Images
“Albeit we would love a bit of rain between now and then, because you can irrigate all you want, but the natural rainfall is obviously our preferred.
“But having said that, there are measures in place to ensure that 100 per cent focus is on the May carnival.”
The death of Grand Promenade on Monday has been referred to Racing Victoria’s jumps review panel.
Grand Promenade, which raced in well-known owner Gerry Ryan’s colours (royal blue, white checks and green sleeves), finished sixth in the 2021 Melbourne Cup and 14th the following year.
The eight-year-old gelding, which won eight races and earned $1.26 million in prizemoney, was transferred from Ciaron Maher’s stable to jumps trainer Shane Jackson last year.
Jackson told The Age that he and stable staff were still struggling to come to terms with the loss of their horse and did not wish to comment.
It is the second jumper that has been euthanized at Warrnambool in less than a year with Paul Preusker runner St Arnica stumbling and falling on day one of last year’s Warrnambool carnival.