Trots return to Harold Park

SYDNEY harness racing's comeback to Harold Park on Friday night is the shot in the arm the sport needs, according to Harold Park supremo John Dumesny.

"The participants in the harness racing trots industry haven't had the opportunity to earn prizemoney or the opportunity to race at Harold Park on a Friday night for a long time due to the EI outbreak," Dumesny said.
"This is our first Friday night meeting at Harold Park since August 24 - everyone in our industry has been waiting very patiently for this night.
"A lot of people in the sport have been doing it tough so having Friday nights back at Harold Park is good for morale.
"We have been through a terrible time with EI although the sport is slowly getting back to normal now."
The meeting won't lack for quality either with boom pacers Special Albert and Bold And Regal competing.

Inquiry continues, but official end of EI crisis in sight

AS THE Federal Government inquiry into the equine influenza outbreak continues in Sydney, it seems likely Australia will be declared provisionally free of the virus by mid-March, three months earlier than projected.

Information released yesterday by national thoroughbred breeders' group Aushorse said there had been 10,700 completed tests for EI with no positive results since December 22.
Aushorse chairman John Messara said Australia had "made excellent progress at combating the disease", with major factors being the implementation of zones and the success of the vaccination program in NSW and Queensland.
Messara said the results since the full-scale resumption of racing in NSW also proved there had been no long-term effects on the performance of horses.
The acting chief executive of Racing NSW, Brian Judd, said that from December 1, 2007, until January 31 this year there had been 124 races at 17 metropolitan meetings with 77 of the winners, or 62%, having recovered from EI. "Whilst we only looked at a relatively small sample over two months, the figures are encouraging in terms of post-EI performance of horses," Judd said.
Racing in NSW and southern Queensland ground to a halt after the highly contagious EI was identified at Eastern Creek quarantine centre near Sydney on August 25 last year and spread through leisure horses and then racing stables, although emergency bio security measures kept it out of Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.
The inquiry before Ian Callinan has revealed breaches of protocol at the Eastern Creek quarantine centre and in quarantine procedures at Sydney airport.
Messara said it was also encouraging that export of Australian horses to Hong Kong was about to resume.
He said the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department had given the green light and there were two batches of thoroughbreds in quarantine in Melbourne awaiting shipment.

Aussie dressage team qualifies for Olympics

Australia qualified its first ever Olympic dressage team at an event in Sydney today.

Australia was battling New Zealand and Japan to gain one of two dressage spots for the August Games, where the equestrian events will be held in Hong Kong.
With a total of 196.167 at the Sydney International Equestrian Centre today, Australia beat Japan's score of 194.792 at an event in Cannes, France, last week.
New Zealand will perform for the judges in Palmerston North on Thursday.
Australia has only had one dressage team compete at an Olympics and that was in Sydney where, as the host country, the Australians were automatically given a place.
High performance manager Brett Mace said he was thrilled Australia had qualified a team for all three equestrian disciplines: dressage, show jumping and eventing.
"It's terrific. Obviously a lot of effort has gone into getting here so we are very, very pleased," he told AAP.
"It is really just the start now towards the Olympics."
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Tony Burke had talks with the Equestrian Federation of Australia (EFA) last week.
Mace said he was hopeful the minister would respond favourably to the EFA's request for $1.5 million of additional funding to help send Australia's equestrian team overseas to prepare for the Games.
The outbreak of equine influenza has hampered preparations in Australia, with today's event in Sydney the first elite competition since last August.
The EFA receives around $1.6 million for their high performance budget from the Australian Sports Commission annually.

New Purple zone

New NSW Purple Zone Rules Signal End Of EI

NSW Minister For Primary Industries Ian Macdonald announced that, from yesterday, "people moving horses within the NSW equine influenza Purple Zone must now carry documents proving their horses have immunity from the disease. This additional short-term requirement is an essential step if the Purple Zone is to be declared free from EI in March." The Purple Zone currently extends from south of Sydney through to the Central Coast, Newcastle, Maitland, Scone & Tamworth. Macdonald noted: "We are on target for the March goal, with only 1 property in NSW still having infected horses and about 80% of proof-of-freedom testing successfully completed. Only when testing confirms there are no isolated pockets of infection remaining will we be in a position to revoke the Purple Zone & lift movement restrictions. This should be very soon, if testing continues to confirm that EI has burnt out." NSW chief veterinary officer Bruce Christie said a Travelling Horse Statement & either a Vaccination Certificate or a Certificate Of Immunity must be carried when moving horses within the Purple Zone, adding: "Recovered horses that have been tested receive a Certificate Of Immunity from the veterinary practitioner who took the samples. A Vaccination Certificate is supplied to horse owners when their horses have been fully vaccinated. That is when the horses have received 2 doses of vaccine." The deadline for 1st round vaccinations expired yesterday (Monday) & "the vaccination program is now winding down, with only 2nd round vaccinations due to be completed". A map of the Purple Zone is available at www.dpi.nsw.gov.au.

Aust EI-Free By Mid-March

Meanwhile Aushorse noted Australia "is expected to be declared provisionally free of equine influenza by mid-March if no new incidents are detected: that would be 3 months earlier than originally projected". Laboratories have completed more than 10,700 Polymerase Chain Reaction tests with no positive results since December 22. (The PCR test detects the EI virus or its remnants: a positive result indicates a horse is infected, or has been infected, with EI in the past 30 days.) Aushorse chairman & Thoroughbred Breeders Australia president John Messara commented: "Australia has made excellent progress at combating the disease. A major factor has been the implementation of zones & the success of the vaccination programme in NSW & Queensland, where more than 90% of targeted horses have received their 1st vaccination & more than 80% their 2nd. With race results also proving there are no long-term effects of EI on the performance of horses, we can certainly head into our sales season with renewed confidence."

EI no factor in race success

SYDNEY - A study by Racing New South Wales has produced encouraging results from horses returning to racing after equine influenza (EI).

From December 1 of last year to January 31, 124 metropolitan races have been run at 17 meetings with 77 winners having recovered from the virus.

"While we only looked at a relatively small sample over two months, the figures are encouraging in terms of post EI performance of horses, with 62 per cent of winners being EI recovered" said Acting Chief Executive, Racing NSW, Brian Judd.

"Our analysis indicates that 52 per cent of horses that were competing in that period were EI recovered, so it shows that statistically at least, the performances stack up well against those horses that were vaccinated.

"Our feedback from trainers is that while horses have had the virus in varying degrees of severity, generally speaking there doesn't appear to be any adverse affects since returning to racing.”

The results come after the news that Australia is expected to be declared provisionally free of equine influenza by mid-March if no new incidents are detected. That would be three months earlier than originally projected.

Laboratories have completed more than 10,700 PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests with no positive results since December 22.

“Australia has made excellent progress at combating the disease,” Aushorse Chairman and TBA President John Messara said.

“A major factor has been the implementation of zones, and the success of the vaccination programme in NSW and Queensland, where more than 90 per cent of targeted horses have received their first vaccination and more than 80 per cent their second.

“With race results also proving that there are no long term effects of EI on the performance of horses, we can certainly head into our sales season with renewed confidence.”

The news coincides with the announcement that the importation of racehorses from Australia to Hong Kong has been given the green light to resume by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and two batches of thoroughbreds bound for Sha Tin are currently in quarantine in Melbourne awaiting shipment. - Aushorse

Olympic torchbearers named

The full list of Australian torchbearer nominees for the Beijing Olympics has been announced.
Eighty people have been given the honour of carrying the torch through Canberra in April which will be the only Australian leg of the relay.
Twenty-seven past and present sportspeople have been selected including Petria Thomas, Ian Thorpe, Rob de Castella and Nova Peris.
2008 Australian of the Year Lee Kernaghan will take part along with his predecessors, burns specialist Doctor Fiona Wood and cancer researcher Professor Ian Frazer.
Paralympic skier Michael Milton is the ACT Chief Minister's nominee.
Canberra community members selected include humanitarian Stasia Dabrowksi, Indigenous leader Matilda House and Young Canberra Citizen of the Year winner Hannah Lord.
The final route of the relay has not been finalised but is expected to feature Parliament House and a row across Lake Burley Griffin with the Australian women's-eight rowing team.

China plans to stop weather from raining on Olympic parade

Chinese meteorologists say they have had some success with experiments to try to guarantee that the opening of the Olympic Games in August is rain-free.
There has been much interest in China's attempt to reduce pollution ahead of the Olympic Games - but that is just one area of intense activity.There is also a team of scientists working on reducing rainfall, to try to ensure that the Games' Opening, on August 8, goes as smoothly as possible.
At a news conference, Beijing Meteorological Bureau deputy chief Wang Jian Jie announced that the work is beginning to pay off.
"Since 2006, we've been doing some experiments using seeding to reduce rain precipitation," he said.
"We've been comparing results and they have improved."

The scientists explained that, depending on the temperature, they have been seeding clouds with liquid nitrogen or silver iodide, to try and curb rainfall.

Unconvinced

Climatology and water resources expert, Professor Roger Stone from the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), says while the work sounds interesting, the international scientific community will not be convinced until detailed results are published.
"I was in Beijing one year before the Olympics are due to start this year, and sure enough, Beijing was hit by particularly intense thunderstorms and what we call strong convective activity," he said.
"I can see there would be some interest in reducing that type of storm activity, because that could indeed have some impact on the running of the games.
Professor Stone says there have been some scientific advances in using silver iodide, salt and other particles to enhance rainfall.
"That work has at long last started to appear in the international scientific journals," he said.

"But to be honest, I'm not aware of the scientific validity of turning it the other way around, although I could see there may be processes that could be put in place to reduce precipitation in some circumstances.
"But by jingo, you'd have to get the exact and precise circumstances in place for this to be effective."