Border trainers incensed by impact of Racing NSW coronavirus directive
Horses stranded in Victoria and staff prevented from working due to V’landys’ pandemic measures
Southern NSW trainers directly affected by the decision of sport’s governing body to ban the movement of racehorses between states and stop Victorian-based staff from working are frustrated by the hypocritical nature of the directive.
Albury’s Mitchell Beer has been outspoken over the ramifications of the Racing NSW move implemented on July 8 as the dramatic spike in coronavirus cases in Victoria took hold, but his Riverina training peer Donna Scott has also had her stable thrown into disarray in recent weeks.
Scott’s Hazel Park Racing, which is based at Albury, has a spelling property at Shepparton in Victoria and has horses either stranded there or in pre-training and unable to cross the border.
But an even greater obstacle for Scott is the fact that stable staff who reside in Victoria are unable to fulfil their duties because of the ruling by Racing NSW’s Peter V’landys.
“We had one horse trial the other day and we’re going to have to undertake a six-hour trip to the south coast by the looks of it to find a race because there’s nothing else around,” Scott told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“The dilemma of going away like that is that my two main staff members I’ve lost because they live on the other side of the border. I’ve got 20-odd horses here and I’m down to one girl working on the ground and one girl riding.
“For me to do these big trips, I’m left with no staff at home and no staff to go away with it. It’s quite a pickle at the moment.”
Scott added: “If they worked at McDonald’s or somewhere like that they could cross the border, that’s no worries, but because it’s racing they can’t.
“I’ve had plenty of arguments with owners who have said, ‘you can get a permit’ but I’ve had to tell them that ‘no, it’s not the government, it’s Racing NSW putting these rules in place’.”
The border ban has been complicated by the fact that it has made it difficult for trainers to access farriers and veterinarians who are based on the other side of the Murray River, while Scott believes that if racing and training can continue in Sydney at coronavirus hotspots like Warwick Farm, then local service providers should be able to cross the border.
The lack of consultation from Racing NSW decision makers is also of growing frustration for Scott.
“My staff have been isolated since day dot really, but now because of the border being shut they just refuse to allow them to work and Racing NSW won’t have a conversation about it,” she said.
“There were Warwick Farm trainers who came to Narrandera the other day, but we can’t have our staff cross the border to come to work.
“I said to someone, ‘if Chris Waller trained out of Albury would they be looking at it differently?’”
Before the horse travel ban came into effect earlier this month, Scott was able to avoid having her last-start All Victorian Sprint Series Final (Listed, 1200m) winner Lord Von Costa (Von Costa De Hero) stuck in a Victorian spelling paddock but the same cannot be said for many of her young stock.
“In the short-term, I’ve got two in pre-training who are due back now,” she said.
“There’s only so much they can do in pre-training and then I’ve got four horses who need to go to breakers in NSW. I’ve also got about six two-year-olds who are desperate to come back into work as well, so it just makes it quite difficult and it is putting a lot of pressure on owners.”
Beer also revealed yesterday that he has 22 horses in Victoria and was unsure when he would be able to get them back to Albury, and fears that some could be lost to rival trainers during the lockdown.
Scott understands that the horse movement issue will feature prominently at a scheduled Racing NSW meeting on Monday while new NSW Trainers Association chief executive Richard Callander was hopeful of a resolution being reached in the next fortnight.
“They’ve (Racing NSW) got a lot of hoops to jump through and we’re hopeful of a positive outcome whether it be next week or the week after,” Callander told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“Things are progressing but it’s a matter of Racing NSW trying to be ahead of the curve and working out where things are going (with coronavirus).”
The well-known racing media figure-turned-Trainers Association chief said he had put forward solutions to help enable horse movement between Victoria and NSW.
“We’ve proposed to Racing NSW that the horses would be picked up by a commercial transport operator in Victoria, they’d then cross the border, the horses would be left in a paddock and (NSW participants) take over from there,” he said.
“They are looking at every option that we put to them and hopefully we will have some positive news on that next week.”