Racing; Not A Leg Up For All.

There has been some controversy in the press between the racing and the ‘pleasure’ horse people, with the latter suggesting that the Thoroughbred industry can “walk on water”. Well not all racing people have God like powers as is attested by Moama Thoroughbred trainer, Darryl Archard, caught up in the bureaucracy of the situation, which demonstrates all the co-ordination of a chook with its head cut off.

“We have 10-11 horses in work, stabled in Moama NSW (with a Victorian telephone number). We do a lot of the slow work in the nearby pine forest and sand hills just down the road and do some of training and our fast work at Echuca Racecourse, ten minutes from here, but across the river in Victoria. At this present time we are stranded here and cannot even take the horses five kilometers up the road, let alone ten minutes across the river to Echuca. I have spoken to the DPI who put me on to the racing stewards and I am just told that rules are rules. However, this week they will allow horses from Albury to go to Wagga to race with the horses there and you will have horses and people mixing. Warwick Farm horses can go to race at Rose Hill and this week there are four race meetings in Brisbane. And I cannot get a permit to take my horses down the road to work them in a deserted forest. I am not asking to take them to the racecourse at Echuca, just five minutes down a country road in a Green Zone, but rules are rules.

“ We are going backwards at 100 miles an hour here. We can’t charge the owners, we can’t work the horses, we are completely hamstrung. I said to the (NSW Racing) stewards yesterday that I was prepared to run the gauntlet and work my horses and if it comes to a court case, I will fight it, as this situation is ridiculous and common sense is not prevailing. Surely the zones should take precedent over state boarders, and movement with permits permitted in the green zone? They said they would ring me back! I want to keep my horses fit enough so that when racing starts again they can be back into it quickly. If this current restriction continues, it will take months to get them racing fit again.

Just after our conversation with Darryl the NSW DPI website announced that as of 12pm on the 21st horses would, with permits, be allowed to move within the Green Zone, (but not across the border into Victoria, despite it being in the Green Zone). Horse Deals will contact Darryl in a couple of days to see how much closer he is to a ride in the forest.

PS
On the 20th of September the Victorian Chief Veterinary Officer, Hugh Miller announced, “owners found to have illegally moved horses into Victoria will be prosecuted and the horses may face destruction”! One cannot miss the irony here, as international racehorses can fly into Melbourne from EI endemic countries for the Cup after the minimum of quarantine, but will be ‘destroyed’ (possibly) if they drive across the Murray. The answer to poor Leica Falcon’s quest for the Melbourne Cup is to fly overseas and fly back into Melbourne.