Racing NSW relaxes restrictions for Victorian-based horses as state’s coronavirus cases plateau
Affected trainers ecstatic trying period appears to be over
The Sydney spring carnival remains off-limits for big-name Victorian metropolitan-trained horses, but the industry’s governing body yesterday acceded to the pleas from many of its stakeholders by allowing stock from regional areas of the southern state to return to NSW stables.
For seven weeks Racing NSW has denied the state’s trainers access to racehorses located in Victoria, citing the risk of handlers and drivers potentially infected with coronavirus transporting them north and compromising the industry.
It is hoped yesterday’s move, labelled phase one, will be quickly followed by the further loosening of the rules relating to the movement of racehorses, which has caused significant hardship for a number of trainers, particularly those located on the NSW-Victoria border.
“The introduction of phase one of the easing of restrictions permitting horses to travel from Victoria into NSW, consistent with the advice it has received from its biosecurity expert, that it is appropriate to review its position given the reduction in the amount of daily new cases in Victoria and the stabilisation of the infection rate,” Racing NSW said in its update.
There were 137 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Victoria yesterday, down from a peak of 602 on July 31.
The partial lifting of the ban ensures that horses located in Stage 3 Covid-19 regions of Victoria are able to enter NSW but those trained in the Greater Melbourne Metropolitan Area, encompassing the metropolitan training centres of Caulfield, Flemington and provincial circuits of Mornington and Cranbourne, are excluded from the current relaxation of the rules.
Albury trainer Mitch Beer, one of the most affected by the ban, was almost in shock at the revelation that he would once again be allowed to retrieve horses from Victoria and was not understating the situation when he said it “changes my whole life”.
“Finances are one thing, but the emotional side of seeing horses who you have worked extraordinarily hard for… for them to walk out the door through no fault of your own (is hard to take),” Beer told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“From a young trainer’s point of view, when you’re giving away horses who haven’t even had a start, they’re the ones I’ve gone to the sales and bought for clients that I didn’t have and I begged, borrowed and stole to get these quality sort of horses in the stable. Then you hand them over 12 months later to other people without having a start. It’s very hard to go to bed at night knowing that you’ve gone through all of that.”
In its release yesterday, Racing NSW cited advice from its biosecurity expert as the reason for making the change, although strict protocols for the movement of horses has been put in place in an effort to protect the industry from the threat of a Covid-19 outbreak.
They include:
Cleansing of transport vehicles prior to travelling into NSW.
Use of one transport driver.
Application being made to, and approval provided by, Racing NSW Stewards prior to transportation.
Horses to be transported to a spelling property or pre-training property that is not located on a NSW racecourse and horses must not be transported directly to a NSW racecourse or licensed stables and must remain on the spelling property or pre-training property for a minimum of 48 hours prior to being transported to a racecourse of licensed stable;
All personnel undertake social distancing when loading and unloading horses.
Ensuring all gear used to transport the horses to be returned to the transport vehicle once the horse has been unloaded.
Declaration of person at NSW property that receives horses confirming compliance with Racing NSW Policy for the Transportation of Horses from Victoria.
Beer first heard of the policy change when contacted by ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
Since July 8, the trainer has had Victorian-based staff living in an AirBnB rental in Albury because they are not allowed to cross the border for work under a Racing NSW directive.
“It doesn’t change my employees’ situation, but at least they can now stay in a job,” he said.
“But again, it’s the lack of communication from Racing NSW. I’m hearing this from you and I don’t expect to be treated any different to anyone else, but you would think given the situation that we are in … that a phone call this morning explaining the rules of what’s changing to a couple of trainers (would not have gone astray).
“The lack of communication and support through the whole thing has been one of the most disappointing factors. I’ve currently got eight horses in work at Wodonga and I’ve got eight horses in work at Leneva Park (near Euroa).
“This changes everything quite dramatically. I’ve got ten empty boxes at home and those horses should already be here.”
The ban, brought in within a matter of hours on July 8, also had a devastating impact on Beer’s rival Albury-based trainer Donna Scott and Geoff Duryea who prepares a small team at nearby Corowa.
There are many other country trainers from around the state, particularly those close to the NSW-Victorian border, who have suffered during the ban.
The change will also allow Goulburn-based trainer Kurt Goldman to bring his Kosciuszko (1200m) hopeful Intuition (Street Cry) back from Victoria to continue his campaign.
The six-year-old gelding, who was purchased by Goldman and clients from Godolphin, has been spelling and in pre-training at Rosemont Stud near Geelong since his fifth-placed run in the Sir John Monash Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) at Caulfield on July 11 because he was unable to bring him back to NSW due to the ban.
Moruya trainer Natalie Jarvis was also delighted with the news yesterday, indicating that a number of Victoria-based horses would soon return to her stables on the South Coast, including three horses part-owned by Jeff Allis’ Epona Park syndicate, first-start winner Kuna Magic (Eurozone), Boomahnoomoonah (Vancouver) and Dragons Breath (Sepoy).
Beer’s stable has suffered a crushing blow as a result of the Peter V’landys-instigated ruling, losing 16 horses to Victorian trainers headed by Vain Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) fourth placegetter Brander’s Rule (Brazen Beau).
The mostly unraced team of horses were dispersed between Brander’s Rule’s new trainer Peter Moody, Pat Carey and a number of others after they could not be brought back to NSW from spelling and pre-training properties.
“For a stable at Albury to lose 16…and they’re not just 16 horses,” he said.
“There’s a horse like Brander’s Rule and a mare like River Of Gold, for instance. She ran fifth in the Wagga Cup this year and she’s only had 15 starts. For me, that’s a really good horse.
“To lose horses like that, it’s bloody heart-breaking.”
The Racing NSW ruling never applied to breeding stock, which have been able to move interstate to foal down in readiness for the official start of the season on September 1.