Thoroughbred Racing South Australia said that SA Minister of Racing Leon Bignell "refused to accept findings of his own Labor-controlled parliamentary committee that jumps races should continue," according to Michael Owen of THE AUSTRALIAN. The state opposition also "questioned internal Weatherill government division" after Bignell used "inflammatory language to renew his calls for a ban on the sport, following a serious fall in the first jumps race of the Oakbank Easter Racing Carnival on Saturday." New Zealand-bred horse Wheeler Fortune was "put down" after he fell during the Somerled Hurdle. The gelding fell at the last hurdle and was euthanized on the track. Another horse also fell. Bignell "seized on the incidents," and said that jumps racing was "cruel, barbaric and doesn't belong in the 21st century." TRSA Chair Frances Nelson, who also chairs the sport's national body, responded by saying jumps racing was "an integral part of our industry" and Bignell's relationship with the racing industry was "very poor ... I think the minister has a lot of bridges to build." Nelson added, "I just find it curious that Leon Bignell, having pushed and worked really hard to secure a select committee to inquire into jumps racing, and that committee took 12 months to report, I find it extraordinary that he can't accept the report of his own appointed committee -- it's very insulting to his peers. If that's his view, then that's his view, but it's wrong" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 4/18).
