THE READY TO RUN PHENOMENON

Click above to watch the Winners Circle insert on the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale
(Image : Gareth du Plessis - Footage : Winners Circle)

EMPERORS PALACE READY TO RUN SALE
TBA Sales Complex, Germiston
2nd and 4th November 2012

Andrew Bon presents a Winners Circle insert featuring last week’s Emperors Palace Ready To Run Gallops staged at Summerhill Stud, Mooi River, in anticipation of the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup at Turffontein, 3 November and the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale to be held at the TBA Sales Complex in Germiston, 2nd and 4th November.

The insert includes interviews by Nico Kritsiotis with Tony Rivalland, Mike de Kock, John Motaung, Shirley Koster, Tom Callaghan, Peter Gibson and Mick Goss.

Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup • Saturday 3rd November
Lots 1-75 • Friday 2nd November 17h00
Lots 76-202 • Sunday 4th November 14h00

Read more about the
2012 Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale

For more information please visit
www.tba.co.za

IGUGU IN QUARANTINE

Igugu - Behind Bars
(Photo : JC Photos / Summerhill Stud)

J&B MET (Grade 1)
Kenilworth, Turf, 2000m
28 January 2012

David Thiselton
Gold CircleDue to an outbreak of African Horse Sickness (AHS) within a 30km radius of her home base, Randjesfontein, Summerhill champion filly and  J&B Met favourite Igugu, as well as a number of other Highveld-based horses including fellow Summerhill contender Smanjemanje, will be stabled at the Kenilworth Quarantine Station in the days before to the big race.

Cape Town is in the AHS control zone and the State Vet has decided that all horses from the state-of-the-art training centre travelling down to compete on J&B Met day must be placed in quarantine.

Igugu travelled to Cape Town on Tuesday night and the decision has trainer Mike de Kock seething.

The culicoides midge that carries African Horse Sickness is a nocturnal insect and any horse staying in the vector protected conditions will have to be locked up two hours before dusk until two hours after dawn.

De Kock is worried because it is impossible to check up on the horses except through a viewing window. He also said that when Silver Flyer was taken out of the quarantine station on a visit to the Cape earlier in the season the horse sweated up and misbehaved.

De Kock pointed out that Investec Cape Derby contender Potala Palace, who is based at Randjesfontein, had travelled with two raiders from the central Joburg training centre at Turffontein, which is currently not an infected area. Potala Palace joined Igugu at the Kenilworth Quarantine Station, while the Turffontein horses will be based in the holding boxes at Kenilworth.

South Africa’s champion trainer said : “I am aware that AHS is not a contagious disease, but it seems ridiculous that they can travel in the same truck. They should either all have to stay in quarantine or all be allowed in the holding boxes.”

He confirmed that Racing South Africa had done everything within their power to facilitate the participation of Igugu and his other raiders at the meeting.

Racing South Africa boss Peter Gibson said that nobody wanted to see any horses residing in conditions that disadvantaged them, adding that the outbreak had occurred at an unfortunate time.

The State Vet’s ruling was made within a set of principles with the sole purpose of preventing any possibility of AHS being transported into the AHS control area.

There are three rules for any horses departing to the AHS control zone from an area where there is no AHS infection within a 30km radius :

1. A private veterinary surgeon must check the horse to see that it is fit to travel.

2. The vet must then apply to the local State Vet for a movement permit. The State Vet will ascertain whether there is an acceptable lack of risk of importing AHS.

3. The Western Cape State Vet must then be notified of the travel arrangement.

Horses travelling from an area that had been infected by AHS within 30 days of intended departure and within a 30km radius were formerly not allowed to travel into the AHS Control Area, but a special “Red Cross Permit” has now allowed horses from such areas to compete in high-profile races in Cape Town.

In terms of the Red Cross Permit :

1. Before departure the horses must be vector protected as best as possible.

2. A real time PCR test must be taken as close to departure as possible to check for the presence of the AHS virus.

3. The horses must be transported in a sealed vehicle directly to the Kenilworth Quarantine Station where they will be stabled under vector-protected conditions.

If these rules are followed, in the unlikely event of a horse being infected between the time of the PCR test and its departure, there will be no chance of AHS being transmitted to the midge population in the AHS control area.

Horses from areas of different AHS status can travel together because AHS is not contagious and it was assumed that the horses were loaded during a time of day when the midge is not active.

Mike de Kock’s comment was : “The PCR test is a wonderful bit of science (it returns a yes or no answer for AHS within an hour or two of a sample being taken). We are hanging our hat on this test as far as our re-admittance to the EU goes. Perhaps we should have more faith in it ourselves. Why can’t another PCR test be done in Cape Town? If it is clear, there should be no reason for the horse to stay in quarantine. Are we not over complicating things?”

As for Igugu’s wellbeing, De Kock said she had scoped 100% clear, had a good blood picture and that her final gallop had been good. Igugu, of course, had to be scratched from the Paddock Stakes earlier this month after contracting an upper-respiratory tract infection.

Extract from www.goldcircle.co.za

SOUTH AFRICAN RACEHORSES CHINA BOUND

Orient Lucky City Racecourse
(Photo : Wuhan Blog)

“That could be the future
of many SA-bred horses.”

Alec Hogg
MoneywebEver since South Africa became the S in BRICS (the others being Brazil, Russia, India and China) I’ve been wondering how long it would take our local horse racing industry to appreciate the potential. The Brazilians have a long-standing racing and breeding culture, so there must be opportunities there. But the big cherry, surely, is exporting horses to the gambling mad, racing obsessed Chinese.

Like the hidden legs of a serenely swimming duck, frantic activity isn’t always apparent. But just because we can’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. Over many years in business as a player and very interested spectator, I’ve realised that tomorrow’s “overnight success” has often been a long, long time in the making. Moneyweb’s Apps are the most obvious current example; we’ve been at them for 18 months now, but that much won’t be apparent to anyone when they’re released in a couple weeks.

Was delighted to learn this week that our racing industry leaders are alive to the Chinese opportunity. Racing South Africa’s CEO Peter Gibson was a member of the recent business delegation taken to Beijing by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and tells me he had “a very positive meeting” with the Chinese Horse Industry Association. The Chinese will follow-up with a visit to SA next March by their own fact finding team headed by officials from the Department of Agriculture. They will be hosted by SA’s Agriculture Ministry and will check controls and quarantine conditions around African Horse Sickness.

Peter says he was amazed to learn that China already imports 2000 horses a year, two thirds of them thoroughbreds. Presumably a number of them headed for Wuhan, the biggest city in Central China (pop. 9.8m), where the country’s racing experiment is in full swing. Weekly race meetings are held with between four and six races staged between 10 to 12 runners. A company called Orient Lucky Horse Industry is behind the project, stabling around 500 horses. No betting is allowed on the races but spectators who correctly guess the winner can win small prizes. The races are televised. Central Government is fully aware of the potential that horse racing offers for the public purse. Betting on racing generates 12% of total tax revenues in the reclaimed Hong Kong.

China’s economic miracle of the past three decades followed a period of extensive planning. It’s a country that analyses deeply before implementing - setting out long-term goals before pulling any triggers. Judging by the Wuhan experiment, those plans are progressing well. Peter Gibson is doing yeoman work in trying to ensure South Africa is part of the project. The potential is staggering - China houses almost a quarter of the world’s population and 16 times South Africa’s.

Extract from www.gracelandfarm.co.za

THE SOUTH AFRICAN EXPORT PROTOCOL DILEMMA

Igugu (Aus) - Vodacom Durban July (Gr1)
(Photo : Gold Circle)

“The chance of carrying African Horse Sickness to an overseas destination is about ‘One Billion To One’.” MDK

David Thiselton
Gold CircleMike de Kock said at the post Vodacom Durban July press conference that he would be reluctant to put Igugu through the 150 odd days of quarantine in four different countries (including Dubai), as pertaining to the prevailing export protocol, in order to get her to the 2012 Dubai International Racing Carnival.

However, Peter Gibson, CEO of Racing South Africa is hopeful that a solution might be found that would cut the quarantine time to less than half that. De Kock’s victory speech last Saturday included a lambasting of South Africa’s trading partners. He pointed out that African Horse Sickness (AHS) was not a contagious disease and the chances of carrying it to an overseas destination were about “one billion to one”.

In fact Professor Alan Guthrie, the director of the Equine Research Centre at Onderstepoort, has developed a new diagnostic test for AHS that returns a “yes” or “no” answer for the existence of the virus within two hours of receiving a sample. This Real Time PCR test is yet to be accredited by the the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health), although it is more accurate than the previous test, which took three weeks to return a result.

Gibson added that it should also be noted that there has never been a case of AHS in South Africa’s AHS Free Zone and Kenilworth Quarantine Station was a world leader in vector-protection. De Kock illustrated how ridiculous our protocol was by saying it would be the equivalent of banning South African sportsman from playing overseas due to a risk of passing on Aids and concluded by saying that our trading partners should “hang their heads in shame.”

A topical example of such a trading partner would be Australia. Of the four Grade 1 winners on Saturday all of Igugu, Happy Archer and Fighting Warrior were bred in Australia, illustrating the support we give their industry. South Africa accepts Australia’s horses directly, despite deadly diseases like Hendra existing in parts of that country.

Yet, Australia requires that South African horses spend 60 days in Europe before entering Australia. The European protocol requires that South African horses spend 60 days in the African Horse Sickness Free Zone in the Cape, meaning a South African horse being exported to Australia would take over 120 days to reach its destination.

The current even more strenuous export protocol for our horses was the consequence of an outbreak of AHS in the AHS Surveillance Zone in February, meaning exports from Kenilworth Quarantine Station were temporarily suspended.

The South African Veterinary Services reported the last confirmed case on 3 May and officially declared the outbreak over on 23 June or 40 days after the last case which is in line with the OIE’s accepted infectious period for AHS.

Currently South African horses would be required to spend over 140 days en route to Dubai, including quarantine periods in Johannesburg (21 days), Mauritius (90 days) and Europe (30 days) and a further week or two in Dubai post arrival. This follows the EU’s temporary embargo on exports from South Africa, potentially for a period of two years, as dictated by their current legislation.

However, Gibson revealed that South Africa has officially applied to the UAE and other trading partners, including Qatar and Singapore, for a limited number of direct shipments from Cape Town’s AHS Free Zone during the vector-safe time of the year (winter months) when the culicoides midge which transmits the virus has been killed off and, therefore, the risk of importing the virus had gone.

The conditions of the application, or equivalence thereof, are based on the 2010 OIE AHS Code which provides for exporting from an infected country or zone and apart from the normal guarantees would include the application of the new test formulated by Professor Guthrie in conjunction with the existing tests accredited by the OIE Manual for International Trade.

This would reduce the quarantine period to 60 days, excluding post arrival quarantine in Dubai, and allow horses destined for the 2012 Dubai International Racing Carnival to remain in training throughout the period.

Extract from Gold Circle

BIRTH OF A NEW DIMENSION IN SOUTH AFRICAN HORSERACING

L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate
(Photo : LQP)

151^stL’ORMARINS QUEEN’S PLATE…
A TRULY INTERNATIONAL EVENT

The presence of Genesis band leader, Mike Rutherford, at Saturday’s L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate, might have been prophetic. When Gary Player announced in the wake of the race that the way had been paved for next year’s 151^st renewal to be a truly international event, he recalled a moment of rebirth dating back to a defining day in November 1995, in Paris. That was the occasion of the striking of the “Black Bush” accord, which laid the foundation for South African racing’s re-entry to the world of international competition.

The implications are these, and while they are ambitious, they are eminently within our grasp :

1. By special consent of our protocol partners in other parts of the world, it’s been agreed that horses will be able to enter the “free zone” (we speak of quarantine issues her) for a limited period, which will enable them, from their base at the Kenilworth Quarantine Station, to maintain a normal exercise regime, and participate in the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate.

2. Clearly, in order to attract a field worthy of the status of a race of this sort, a stake in the region of US$2million (bearing in mind the race’s proximity to the competing international events in Hong Kong and Dubai) will have to be raised. Equally, we will need to provide the usual incentive for subsidisation of the transportation and accommodation of horses, owners, trainers and jockeys.

3. This is a costly undertaking, and it will demand at the very least, some contribution from government, and possibly the City of Cape Town, along the lines of the participation in the Summer Cup of the City of Johannesburg.

These things don’t happen without effort, and here we need to thank Peter Gibson and his team at Racing South Africa, Professor Alan Guthrie of the Research Centre in Pretoria, Gold Circle, and the lynchpins, Gaynor Rupert and her team at L’Ormarins.

They have made the Queen’s Plate worthy of its appellation, and that’s demanded foresight, energy and critically, strategic savvy and leadership. Without her at the helm, nothing of this sort would’ve eventuated and an even bigger event will require just as much, and some. The news had scarcely broken, and by lunchtime on Monday, Gaynor had her cohorts around her, several of them representing international media organisations, event organisers etc. Whatever this year’s was, look out for 2012.

For more information
please visit :

L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate