Victorian Mares Head Home

After more than 6 weeks of planning, William Inglis & Son is pleased to announce that the first draft of Victorian based broodmares and foals have arrived at the Inglis Oaklands sales complex in Victoria from NSW.

They are all equine influenza (EI) recovered horses and have passed blood and nasal swab tests to ensure they are EI free and no risk to other horses. In the next 24 hours they will be decontaminated under Victorian DPI supervision and released.

In total, 235 horses have been decontaminated and tested under DPI NSW supervision at the Inglis Newmarket sales facility in Sydney in the past week before heading to Victoria. Another 104 will leave Newmarket and arrive at Oaklands before the weekend. Most of the horses are broodmares and foals owned by Victorian breeders and until now have been stranded on farms in the Hunter Valley due to EI. There have also been a number of racehorses transported via Inglis facilities to stables in Victoria for leading NSW and Victorian trainers.

Managing Director of Inglis, Mark Webster commented, “It's been a great challenge to facilitate the movement of so many horses to Victoria, particularly noting the strict bio-security protocols and paperwork involved. We feel it's important to help the entire industry get back on track and moving horses is critical to gaining a sense of normality. By the end of this week, Inglis will have assisted with more than 400 thoroughbreds and pleasure horses to enter Victoria either via quarantine or decontamination. I'd like to thank the NSW and Victorian DPI officials for their assistance during this period.”

Due to sales commitments in Sydney and Melbourne and the unavailability of the facilities, the next major movement of horses from NSW into Victoria will not be until February 24 when more than 100 recovered yearlings from NSW and Queensland will arrive at Newmarket enroute to the Melbourne Premier sale commencing March 2.

“The great news is that recovered yearlings will only need to stay overnight at Newmarket for testing and decontamination before heading to Melbourne. They will arrive at the Oaklands facility one day prior to being joined by local yearlings for the Premier sale,” Webster added.