Representatives of the three city clubs, Country Racing Victoria, owners, jockeys, trainers, breeders, bookmakers and unions were told of the proposal at a meeting last night.

While detail of the proposal and the resolution from the industry remained unclear, RVL is believed to have put parameters on what will be acceptable for jumps racing to continue beyond next year.

Australian Jumps Racing Association president Rodney Rae and RVL chief executive Rob Hines will continue talks this morning.

Sources said there was a window open for a resolution to be announced at today's RVL annual general meeting at Yarra Valley.

Mike Symons, vice-chairman of Melbourne Racing Club and part-owner of champion jumper Some Are Bent, helped broker the deal.

Jumps racing seemed doomed when RVL announced on Friday it would end after the 2010 season on the grounds of poor image, safety and economics.

The decision was welcomed by animal welfare activists but met a groundswell of opposition from racing industry groups and jumps fans.

Respected New Zealand jumps trainer John Wheeler said yesterday he feared all horse sports were at risk unless RVL reversed its decision.

Wheeler said jumps racing was only the start for the animal welfare lobby.

"They won't stop. If they win this, they'll win 'em all. Rodeos, three-day eventing, show jumping," he said.

Protesters will next week take aim at two-year-old racing in Australia.

Wheeler said 40 of the top 60 trainers in New Zealand had served an apprenticeship in jumps racing.

"That's because the people involved in jumps racing really love the sport," he said.

A stalwart of the Oakbank and Warrnambool jumps racing carnivals for the past 20 years, Wheeler said RVL was being naive by saying it would put $1 million into Warrnambool and keep the three-day carnival going.

"They're kidding," he said.

Wheeler, who has won seven Great Eastern Steeplechases at Oakbank and four Warrnambool Grand Annuals, said jumps racing was the attraction for the huge crowds at both carnivals.

"The only reason 65,000 people go to Oakbank and 20,000 to Warrnambool is the spectacle," he said.
Wheeler said deaths in all horse sports were a fact of life.

"I lost three jumpers this year and not one at a fence," he said.

"My Grand National Steeplechase winner this year, Bennyosler, broke a leg in a paddock. That's what happens. Where you have livestock, you've got dead stock."

TRAINER David Hayes will face RVL stewards today at an adjourned inquiry into the use of shockwave treatment to Poison Ivy before the horse was due to run at Moonee Valley on November 20.