Trainers ready to carve up WYD pie

RANDWICK and Warwick Farm trainers are set to divide up $10.8 million in World Youth Day reparations.

Racing NSW chief executive Peter V'Landys is ready to sign off on the financial agreement with the WYD authority, which represents the State and Federal governments.

"We expect to conclude an agreement tomorrow," V'Landys said on Thursday.

"Accordingly, we will immediately accept claims or applications from affected persons and in particular the Warwick Farm trainers who are presently incurring expenditure which they would not normally."

Pope Benedict XVI will host a closing mass at Randwick on the evening of July 19, but trainers at headquarters will be forced to relocate about 700 horses on June 15, when the site is handed over to WYD organisers.

In a bid to cater for the bulk of those horses, Warwick Farm is currently under going a multimillion-dollar makeover.

Stables for 400 horses are being built along with a tunnel under the course proper and training tracks.

A new synthetic track and sand circuit are also being put down, but the construction has caused havoc for Warwick Farm trainers.

"We are open to all suggestions, but at a minimum Warwick Farm trainers will be reimbursed float costs incurred for having to transport horses to other tracks for training," V'Landys said.

Randwick trainers might be forced to train from other venues for up to 10 weeks, and there were suggestions they would get $1500 a week for each horse in work.

"Our next step will be to sit down with the Randwick trainers to determine how they will be compensated for the disruption to their business during World Youth Day," V'Landys said.

"Naturally we will also consult the State and Federal governments once we have finalised a distribution method."

Qld closer to unsaddling horse flu

Queensland is moving one step closer to shaking off the effects of last year's horse flu outbreak with a downgrading of animal movement restrictions.

State Primary Industries Minister Tim Mulherin said the amber zone covering south-east Queensland, where equine influenza (EI) struck horses last year, would on Friday revert to a green zone.

The change allows owners to move horses from the green zone into the white zone, which covers most of the state, and interstate for events, providing they carry proper documentation.

Mr Mulherin said the state was on track to becoming declared EI free by the middle of the year.

"We are in the final stages of confirming once and for all that we have eradicated EI from our state," Mr Mulherin said.

"If there are no further cases detected, we should be able to declare ourselves EI free by June 30, with international recognition of freedom on Christmas Day, one year after the last horses were known to be infected."

Owners need to complete a Queensland Horse Inter-zone Declaration in order to travel between zones.

Owners must keep two copies of the declaration, one retained at the place of departure and the other carried with the animals to their destination.

The declaration can be completed online at www.dpi.qld.gov.au or by contacting the DPI.

Grant available for owners of 'stranded' mares

NEW SOUTH WALES - Thoroughbred Breeders Australia is offering financial assistance to NSW broodmare owners who bred to NSW stallions in 2007 as part of the Equine Influenza Assistance Package – Individual Breeders Skills Retention.

Financial assistance in the form of a one off skills retention grant will now be made available to NSW broodmare owners who provide care for their mares most of the year and whose mares were stranded away from their home property due to the equine travel restrictions.

To be regarded as a stranded broodmare the following criteria must be met;

• The applicant must be the broodmare's primary carer most of the year and in doing so exercise skills related to equine husbandry
• The broodmare was transported to be covered by a thoroughbred stallion as a 'walk on' for the 2007 breeding season
• The broodmare was stranded in a movement restricted zone as declared by the NSW DPI and the applicant was unable to return their broodmare to be cared for at its home property after conception
• Once zoning and equine movement restrictions enabled the broodmare to travel from the movement restricted zone, the mare was transported to the home property

Broodmares that reside permanently in the area covered by the Purple Zone during the 2007 breeding season are not eligible for this assistance.

Financial assistance will be provided to eligible breeders dependent on scale of broodmare care provided to a maximum of $2000 per applicant.

3rd Round EI Vaccinations Begin In Qld

Meanwhile Queensland Racing "will commence the 3rd round of equine influenza vaccinations for those horses due to receive their next administration". Chief operations manager Malcolm Tuttle said QR would provide a $400,000 subsidy for the 3rd round vaccinations with most horses due in late March, explaining: "QRL will meet the full cost of the vaccine & subsidise the costs of the 3rd inoculation by providing $25 per administration to the applicable veterinarian on receipt of the administration document. Connections are required to contact their veterinarian to arrange the next administration of vaccine & in turn the veterinarian will order the required amount of vaccine from QR."

Aust EI-Free As Last Qld Zone Declared Green

The Australian Racing Board confirmed that from today "Australia will be once again declared provisionally free of equine influenza when the last Amber Zone in Queensland is reclassified to Green". The National Management Group (which is responsible for the government response to the EI outbreak) "has approved this reclassification in Queensland, enabling Australia to make this declaration". ARB chief executive Andrew Harding (the industry's member of the National Management Group) declared: "When we were told on 25 August 2007 that EI had escaped from Eastern Creek Quarantine Station it was the day an atom bomb was dropped on Australian racing. The next 6 months was a nightmare, but this is a truly sweet moment." Harding noted: "The significance of this development is that Australia has avoided the substantial deficits that face those countries where EI is endemic. For those countries that accept equine influenza as an endemic disease, the annual costs of living with the disease are very high. These include cancelled race meetings & other equestrian events, lost performance days, treatment costs for sick horses & restrictions on the movement of horses to other countries. The fact that Australia is once again free of this disease is a very important achievement."

Relief over end of horse 'flu outbreak

The owner of Tasmania's largest thoroughbred stud has welcomed the Federal Government's announcement that Australia is provisionally free of equine influenza.

The Federal Agriculture Minister, Tony Burke says there have been no new horse flu cases since December.

Robyn Whishaw from the Armidale stud near Carrick says the announcement is a huge relief because the ordeal has cost her well over $200,000.

"In the short term it's cost us between $100,000 and $200,000 in lost income from interstate service fees for agistment," she said.

"The long term cost is going to be a bit harder to gauge but there will certainly be some long term cost because I was unable to send mares out to interstate stallions and that's a large part of our income."

Horse flu alert downgraded

The Queensland Horse Council says it hopes the state will be officially declared horse flu-free well before the target date of June 30.

The Federal Government has declared the country "provisionally" free of equine influenza and the amber zone - which includes parts of the Darling Downs, Gold and Sunshine Coasts - has been downgraded to green.

The Council President Julie de Visser says the industry is only beginning to assess the fallout from the crisis.

"Many people have missed the breeding season this year for their horses so next year we're going to have less foals on the ground and it's going to take a few years for that impact to be really felt," she said.

"I think we'll find a couple of years before we can rebuild the industry to what it really was."