Yearlings to head arrivals

ABOUT 60 yearlings will be the first thoroughbreds to move into Victoria today from New South Wales.

The yearlings, and a group of recreational horses, are the first horses to be allowed into Victoria from NSW and Queensland since the outbreak of equine influenza on August 25.
Stranded Victorian and autumn carnival-bound horses, as well as standardbreds for the Inter Dominion harness series, will filter into Victoria by the end of January.
Depending on whether they come from purple, red, amber or green equine influenza zones interstate, horses will have to serve quarantine periods at isolation farms or quarantine centres before mixing with the Victorian horse population.
The period of isolation at designated areas or Sandown quarantine station will vary from three to 14 days.
Chief Victorian veterinarian Dr Hugh Millar reassured Victorian trainers and owners there would be no risk of an EI outbreak in Victoria.
Dr Millar said the decision to allow horse movement to resume had "not been a hasty one," with chief veterinarians around Australia working on the protocols for a "long time".
"As chief vets we would not approve anything that hasn't covered all the risks.
"The risks have been well and truly thought through," Dr Millar said.
"I haven't spent three months of pretty intense effort of keeping Victoria EI free to just throw it away with some hasty decision on moving horses."
Dr Millar said the first consignment of horses to enter Victoria was a group of stranded recreational horses that "had been waiting patiently" in NSW since August.
He said horses that had recovered from EI are immune from further infection.
"They are very safe horses," he said.
A consignment of horses, believed to be about 60, for the Inglis sales, will also enter Victoria today.
Dr Millar said these horses would spend three days in isolation where they would be monitored by DPI officials.
He said other thoroughbreds would come into Victoria through January and early February.
"We would hope the disease-containment protocols are such that by end of January it will be slightly easier to move horses," Dr Millar said.
"But this isn't the end of the containment policy or border protocols."