Victoria will soon be the only state in Australia where horse jumps racing is legal, according to the former head of the South Australian Jockey Club, Steve Ploubidis.

"I think that jumps racing in South Australia, the days are numbered," Mr Ploubidis told the ABC's 7.30 program.

His comments come as another horse was killed during a jumps race.

The horse called Show Dancer crashed hard into a hurdle early in a race yesterday at Sandown, Victoria, catapulting into the air and landing on its neck.

The rider was thrown clear and escaped serious injury but the horse was euthanased on the track.

It is the third horse to die in a jumps event since the season opened in Victoria and South Australia, the only two states in Australia where jumps racing remains legal.

The last death in a jumps race occurred in South Australia, during training for this year’s poorly attended Oakbank Easter Racing Carnival.

Mr Ploubidis, who ran the jockey club for eight years, says, with protests at every Oakbank Carnival and attendance down 25 per cent this year, jumps racing is turning the crowds away.

"Providing there is the continual community resentment towards the cruelty association with jumps racing you'll find the community pressure will come to bear."

Four jumps races are run at the two-day Oakbank Carnival held in the Adelaide Hills each year.

The Great Eastern Steeplechase, held on the second day of racing, is one of the longest in the country at just under five kilometres.

Horses more likely to die in longer races: study

A 2006 Melbourne University study found horses are more likely to die in longer races and even the sport’s most fierce supporters admit jumps racing is a risky sport.

John O'Connor, 76, has been bringing horses to the Adelaide Hills track for 25 years.

"We lose one occasionally, that's a fact and it can't be helped. They lose the occasional horse on the flat," he said.

Mr O'Connor knows the risks well.

Just six days before the first jumps race at Oakbank, his horse, Black Moon, was severely injured after a fall during a training race and was put down soon afterward.

He says death is just part of the sport.

"I don't think about it," Mr O'Connor said.

"Because I'm confident that they're [the horses] competent, they're well trained, they're fit - and if an accident happens, so be it," he said.

RSPCA says jumps racing too dangerous

The RSPCA’s Tim Vasudeva says jumps racing is too dangerous and the public is starting to realise that.

"Jumps horses are 19 times more likely to die whilst racing than flats horses," said Mr Vasudeva.

"People don't want to see that, they just don't."

The head of the sport’s governing body, Thoroughbred Racing South Australia, is Frances Nelson, and she rejects Mr Vasudeva’s claims.

She says the fall in numbers has nothing to do with public opposition to the industry and points to the small percentage of injuries sustained by horses running in jumps races.

"Since the beginning of 2005, and including up to today, the injuries in jumps races and trials, constitute less than 0.9 percent of horses starting," Ms Nelson said.

"That's a very low percentage rate and we're constantly trying to improve that," she said.