Interested in Show Hunters in Victoria?

Vic Show Hunter Meeting to be held on the 18th April at Chirnside Restaurant Werribee.
Please contact Angie Perdrisat on 03 5281 7275 or Sue Wombwell on 03 5244 5367 to express your interest and confirm numbers. There will be dinner before the meeting and everyone is welcome to attend.

Fleeing horses seized from fields

Eleven horses have been seized from fields in Staffordshire after hundreds of incidents of them escaping.

Police and council officials removed them from land near Reginald Mitchell Way and Lowlands Road in Tunstall. It is not clear who owns them.

The land is owned by Newcastle Borough Council and the horses do not have formal permission to be liveried there.

There have been about 400 incidents reported to police between January 2007 and March 2008, a spokesman said.

"Today's joint action has been taken after continual problems with horses escaping from the fields and endangering road users, " he added.

"As a result the horses have been seized under Section 7 of the Animals Act and taken to an unspecified location."

A vet was present throughout the operation.

Anyone with a claim to the horses should contact Staffordshire Police.

Opera star? I'm a bit horse

FOR a menagerie of farm animals, including a horse, donkey and chickens, the sound of 70 operatic voices singing at full volume took some getting used to.

While the stars of Opera Australia's new production of Carmen had to take riding lessons before the show could go on, Jamieson the horse and his friend Drummer had to be trained to cope with the voices, lights and orchestra.

The animals are used in the show's teeming gypsy market scene, set in Seville.

The horses are ridden on stage by singer Joshua Bloom, playing Escamillo, and by Pamela Helen Stephen, as Bizet's sultry seductress, Carmen.

For the role the horses needed to wear rubber hoof covers to stop them slipping on the stage, and must become familiar with the cast surrounding them in the eight stage rehearsals.

All the fame is nothing new to Jamieson and Drummer, whose other stage work includes appearances at the Sydney Olympics and in The Man From Snowy River arena show.

Carmen opens at the State Theatre, the Arts Centre, tomorrow and runs until May 10.

Weapons from Light Horse brigade stolen

A SWORD and rifle used in the Australian Light Horse Brigade at the Battle of Beersheba in 1917 have been stolen from an RSL in Sydney's west.
The World War I artefacts were taken during a break-in at the Auburn RSL, in Sydney's west, during the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Pawn shops should be on the lookout for them, the NSW government says.

The Beersheba battle in southern Palestine is famous for the brigade's dramatic charge while under fire.

Both items were donated by a local man whose father was in the brigade and had them in his possession at Beersheba.

MP for Auburn Barbara Perry has asked the perpetrators to come forward and return the stolen items before Anzac Day on April 25.

"Pawn shops also need to be on the lookout for the items and if they see them, immediately notify the police," Ms Perry said.

She said anyone with further information should contact the police.

"I'm appealing to anyone who knows more about this to step forward so these items can be recovered and we can bring the perpetrators to justice."

Racing must replace funds

The Victorian Government has committed to developing alternate funding arrangements that will not disadvantage the state's racing industry in the wake of sweeping changes to the gaming industry announced yesterday.

The thoroughbred code receives almost $70 million from Tabcorp's gaming profits, but the funding will end when licensing changes take effect in 2012.

The envy of other states for its gaming income, the Victorian racing industry entered into a joint venture agreement with Tabcorp when the TAB was privatised in 1994 for 25 per cent of poker machine profits. Racing Minister Rob Hulls told parliament yesterday the Government was committed to developing funding arrangements that are "no less favourable" to the racing industry.

"The announcement also provides Victoria's world-famous racing industry the opportunity really to be the master of its own destiny," Hulls said.

"The decision to fund the racing industry to the greatest possible extent from wagering will indeed provide new opportunities for an even greater racing and wagering product," Hulls said.

The $700 million wagering network will be put to tender, but the racing industry will not be able to bid for the single, exclusive licence, which is based on the existing pari-mutuel and fixed-odds betting model. An eight-week period of consultation with the racing industry begins today.

"These decisions, we believe, will give the racing industry control of its own destiny and the opportunity to work with a wagering partner which will have the racing industry as its main focus," Hulls said.

Bernard Saundry, Racing Victoria's acting chief executive, said the industry wanted to ensure it would be better off, rather than no worse off with the new arrangements.

"RVL is pleased that the Government's announcement has reaffirmed its commitment to creating funding arrangements that will be no less favourable to the Victorian racing industry than the current joint venture funding arrangements. However, it is important to note that RVL's intention is to ensure that this process sees the racing industry better off than it is today," Saundry said.

"While we have only been informed of this decision this morning, it is clear that there are serious ramifications for the racing industry that will need to be considered."

Opposition racing spokesman Denis Napthine viewed the announcement in a grave light, saying the proposed changes to gaming and wagering would cripple the racing industry.

"The Brumby Government has just devastated racing in Victoria in one fell swoop. These changes mean the multi-billion-dollar racing industry faces a very uncertain future after 2012," Napthine said.

"Without this significant revenue stream from gaming machine profits, it will be impossible for the racing industry to maintain prizemoney and marketing expenses, and it will be the death of racing as we know it."