Horse flu hits yearling sales

Organisers of the nation's premier yearling sales say Equine Influenza has indirectly cost the event $20-30 million dollars.

The Magic Millions sales ended yesterday on the Gold Coast, grossing $122 million.
But the average sale price was greatly reduced.
General manager David Chester says while economic downturn played a part, fears surrounding horse flu travel restrictions before the sale, kept many southern stud vendors away.
"We lost about 80 there, and there were quite a number of horses from the Hunter Valley, some of the better horses that didn't come because of the worry of EI and getting the horses out of here if the EI ban wasn't lifted," he says.
"Fortunately it was lifted before the sale, but the damage had already been done with some of the quality horses."