The Victorian Jockeys’ Association boss Matt Hyland has backed his members over the Caulfield track saga in response to an ‘’extraordinary’’ statement from the Melbourne Racing Club that criticised riders following serious safety concerns.
The MRC on Tuesday claimed a review of their track deemed it safe after senior riders complained about the surface before race day on Saturday.
Senior jockeys, including Mark Zahra and Ben Melham, on Saturday led a cohort that complained about several parts of the Caulfield track where clumps of dirt could be easily removed. Footage shows a number of clumps being easily removed where the plugs were, which former riding great Darren Beadman illustrated before race time.
Some major news is breaking regarding the track at Caulfield 🚨 pic.twitter.com/xgQREmDuJY
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) September 19, 2026
Some riders, Betsy understands, were willing to abandon the day given their concerns.
Racing at Caulfield on Saturday was delayed after stewards ordered the running rail be moved by 4m.
But the club said its ”review concluded that the jockeys were incorrect in their view’’ and the club’s CEO Tanya Fullerton also claimed that jockeys ‘’clearly did not understand how turf plugs work’’.
Still some concern regarding the track at Caulfield 😬 pic.twitter.com/AWSEx1zMJt
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) September 19, 2026
VJA boss Matt Hyland labelled the claims from the MRC as ‘’extraordinary’’ given the vision from Saturday and the serious concerns his members had.
‘’The jockeys are the ones with their neck on the line. These are professional people, they’re professional athletes and professional people,’’ he told Betsy
‘’Their views need to be respected. I’ll back them all day, every day, first and foremost.
‘’From my perspective, I’ll back my members in their judgment of walking tracks all day, every day.
”I’d say they are as well qualified as anyone to make a call on whether a surface is consistent. They’ve got to be 100% satisfied that the surface is consistent and safe for racing. I think the vision on Saturday speaks for itself.’’
Hyland said he understood the complexities of managing race tracks but said safety must come first.
‘’Managing tracks is a tough gig at the best of times. There’s no question about that. But to insinuate that people who are going out there and walking the tracks every day don’t know what they’re talking about or looking at is an extraordinary comment,’’ he said.
‘’I’ll put this to you if that was their view on Saturday … and they put their view that our members should be out there and running the gauntlet on it, and something did go wrong, what would we be looking at then?’’.
