Racing Victoria vets review Ohope Wins death as Morrison defends safety record

Racing Victoria’s (RV) veterinary team is conducting a post-mortem on Ohope Wins as part of a review of the mare’s death in the Caulfield Cup, even though race vision showed she was brought down by a fallen horse.

Chief executive Aaron Morrison disclosed the review in a letter to Victorian owners on Thursday. The letter also defends the state’s safety record and restates the veterinary protocols that will apply during Melbourne Cup Week.

“The vision clearly showed that Ohope Wins was brought down by the fallen Half Yours, rather than suffering a spontaneous injury beforehand. However, we have not simply closed the book,” Morrison wrote. He said the standard post-incident review would allow any relevant information to be used for research and education.

Morrison said Victoria averages more than 40,000 thoroughbred starters a year. He said the state has maintained a 99.95 per cent safety record over the past decade, a fatality rate of 0.05 per cent in flat races that he described as among the best globally. The last Caulfield Cup fatality was Mummify, who went amiss after the race 21 years ago.

The strictest safeguards apply to the Melbourne Cup and international runners. “Why? Because they were overrepresented in our serious injury and fatality data,” Morrison wrote. He said the protocols introduced in 2021 have produced five successive Melbourne Cups without a serious horse injury.

Morrison also said a contribution from all prize money has funded more than $50 million in RV welfare spending since 2017. He put owners’ and trainers’ annual outlay preparing horses to race in Victoria at $590 million.

“I want participants and owners to understand what we are doing collectively to make racing as safe as it reasonably can be and to feel confident talking about it,” he wrote.