Let’s start out by stating very clearly that I like jumps racing. I have a history with it, and the broken bones have all mended.

But, now that the new season of jumps racing has started, the usual suspects are sure to come out of their summertime slumbers and the usual round of criticisms of jumping races are sure to start as soon as there is a fall or two.

In past years, there was a certain validity in some of the critical comments made about jumping races, but it’s worth pointing out that some of the criticism that has happened in recent times needs a little criticism of its’ own.

From a horseman’s viewpoint, jumps racing has a place in the calendar. There are horses that are natural jumpers, and actually enjoy jumping – and there are horses who don’t. Just like people, really. When you train a horse for any kind of jumping, it becomes very clear, very quickly, if the horse has any talent for jumping, or not. And it becomes very clear, very quickly, to the rider whether the level of risk involved in schooling that horse over jumps is worth the reward!

So, let’s look at the arguments for and against steeplechases and hurdles.

The big one is the cruelty thing. Critics say that racing horses over jumps is cruel and inhumane. When the emotion is taken out of the discussion, and the realities of racing are thought through, it’s difficult to sustain that argument at any more than an emotive level. Look at the tragic accident in the Sydney Cup. Not a jumps race, but a horse died – and not a word from the cruelty lobby. The fact of the matter is that any racing is inherently a dangerous pastime for the participants – as is virtually any sport. Horses are big animals with a unique skeletal structure that includes very fine boned legs carrying powerful bodies. Galloping at speed puts huge strains on their legs, and the vast majority of the time, the strains are not a problem. Just like a footballer doesn’t always pull a hamstring in every match.

Is there a difference in flat racing and jumps racing in this regard? There definitely is. Hurdles and steeplechases are raced over longer distances than almost all flat races, and the tempo of jumps racing is vastly different to that of flat racing. The jockey’s main task in a jumps race is to manage the horse through the race to conserve as much energy as possible for the final race to the finish – on the flat when the jumping is all over. It’s a much more tactical endeavor than riding in a flat race. Believe it, the last thing any rider wants to feel is a tired horse underneath him when there’s a jump coming up. That’s why jumps jockeys pull horses out of the race rather than risk life and limb for both horse and rider by taking an exhausted horse into the next hurdle.

Critics also say that only slow horses go into jumps races. Wrong. The horses that succeed as jumpers need to have sufficient speed to run acceptable races over distance on the flat. Just as in flat racing, the costs of racing a horse aren’t small, and, unless there is a reasonable chance of a return to the owner from any racehorse, the costs just are not borne indefinitely. The slow horses don’t go jumping in races. They go show jumping, to dressage, to police work or to another home as a pet. Contrary to the emotive argument, horse people don’t automatically think of the knackery when a horse’s racing career ends.

It’s also often pointed out that the jumping fraternity in racing is quite small compared with the flat racing population. That’s true, but so is the number of people involved in polocrosse compared with polo. And why does it matter? It’s a silly argument – we all know size doesn’t matter!

The critics also choose to ignore the improvements made to jumps racing to take much of the risk out of the sport. Years ago, hurdles were horizontal wooden slats, now they are brush fences. Years ago, steeples were higher than they are now. Years ago, jumps races were held over a longer period of the year. Now they are restricted to the times and the places where tracks are likely to be softer.

So, is there a place for jumps racing in the modern era? Is jumps racing too risky when compared with flat racing?

Put simply, all racing involves risk. Flat races are run at higher speeds and are more crowded than jumps races. The risks are not higher in jumps races, just different. Of course there is a place for jumps racing.

The problem really is that those who criticise jumps racing often do so from a point of ignorance of the sport, the horses, and the risk. There is rarely any consideration given to the horsemanship of the participants or to the attitudes held by trainers, jockeys and owners towards their horses. Virtually all horses jump at some time in their training. Putting a horse over jumps, often low ones, is a very common training trick that helps a horse to focus on the task at hand. Training a horse for hurdles and steeples takes a hell of a lot of time and effort, and is painstaking in the attention to detail required, and the time involved in getting a horse to the level of fitness needed to have the stamina to jump successfully.

As the new jumping season takes wing, maybe it’s time to accept that, as a spectacle, jumps racing is hard to beat. As a sport, the efforts to reduce risk are commendable. But, as with life, there is always risk – and there will always be those who will criticise.