The Australian Jumps Racing Association has warned of a "massive class action" against Racing Victoria Limited (RVL) if it closes down jumps racing.Association president Rodney Rae also attacked Victorian racing minister Rob Hulls, saying he had a "vendetta" against the sport and was applying political pressure to ban it.On Thursday, RVL suspended jumps racing in the state minutes after Grand Annual Steeplechase runner Clearview Bay became the third jumper to die at this week's three-day Warrnam

The Australian Jumps Racing Association has warned of a "massive class action" against Racing Victoria Limited (RVL) if it closes down jumps racing.

Association president Rodney Rae also attacked Victorian racing minister Rob Hulls, saying he had a "vendetta" against the sport and was applying political pressure to ban it.

On Thursday, RVL suspended jumps racing in the state minutes after Grand Annual Steeplechase runner Clearview Bay became the third jumper to die at this week's three-day Warrnambool racing carnival, and the fifth to be killed this season.

RVL will make an announcement on the future of jumps racing next week, with speculation mounting that it will ban the sport.

Premier John Brumby and Hulls support the suspension but Rae accused the state government of pressuring RVL into making the decision.

"It's a decision made by RVL in haste and under pressure," Rae told radio station Sport 927 on Friday.

"RVL has given an undertaking to the industry that the 2009 season would go ahead and on that basis hundreds of horses have been put into work and millions of dollars has been invested.

"If RVL reneges on its undertaking I have no doubt there will be a massive class action against them."

Rae accused Hulls of not caring about the livelihood of those employed in jumps racing, saying he has "a vendetta against jumping racing and he wants it finished".

Hulls said the decision was up to RVL but the death count was making jumps racing increasingly unsustainable.

He stressed that RVL was independent of government and would take into account the views of all stakeholders and the reputation of the industry, which employs more than 80,000 people.

Five per cent of jumps horses fell in competition this year and two per cent were killed, he said.

"If that was transferred across flat racing obviously there would be public outcry in relation to the racing industry generally," he said.

"I think that any death or injury of a horse, any injury to a jockey, is a tragedy, it's a horrible spectacle, it's a horrible thing to watch and anybody involved in the industry I'm sure would take that view."

Rae said the safety record in jumps races had improved significantly since modular jumps were introduced six years ago, with about seven to eight horses killed a year, down from up to 23 a season.

Rae questioned the future of around 250 horses that enter jumping each year should the sport be banned.

"Without jumping the majority of these horses are destined for the knackery and mistreatment," Rae said.

Trainer and former jumps jockey David "Butch" Londregan says he will be forced to put down his six jumps horses and has threatened to send the severed heads to Hulls.

Hulls hit back, saying the threat was out of order.

"The comments that have been made by Butch Londregan today are intemperate and inappropriate comments and I certainly hope that the views expressed by him are not the views expressed by the jumps industry generally," he said.

Prominent jumps trainer Fran Houlahan said it was insulting for jumps trainers to be told they were being cruel to horses by jumping them.

"It is an absolute insult to have people telling you that and just pulling the rug out from under you. This is our life," Houlahan said.

The Jumps Review Panel will report to RVL early next week on all the incidents that have occurred this season.