Racing Victoria Change Import Protocols Ahead of Spring Carnival

[Wandering Eyes]

On Monday, Racing Victoria announced changes to the original 2021 veterinary protocols for horses competing at the Spring Carnival.

“The protocols have served to arrest an alarming trend and been a catalyst for the last four Spring Racing Carnivals and Melbourne Cups being conducted without serious injuries,” said Racing Victoria CEO Aaron Morrison.

“After each Carnival the protocols are evaluated to consider their application, ongoing suitability and any potential enhancements based on stakeholder feedback, our learnings, data and new technology. What remains unchanged is that every international horse will have to pass a CT scan to compete here. However, we're taking a more pragmatic approach with the volume of scans for those horses not entered in the Cups or Cox Plate.”

He added, “Our goal remains to deliver world-class racing, whilst ensuring the safety of horses and riders. We look forward to working with international and local connections to maintain the recent positive trend.”

The key changes include:

• International horses that do not hold an entry for the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate or Melbourne Cup will only be required to undertake one mandatory pre-travel Computed Tomography (CT) scan and won't be required to have further CT scans before each race in Australia. Such horses will remain subjected to other protocols including multiple pre- and post-travel physical veterinary inspections. Where a horse in this cohort undertakes pre-travel Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), it must undergo its mandatory CT scan in Australia prior to racing in Victoria.
• Where reasonably practicable, international horses must undergo a CT of all distal limbs in their home country prior to entering pre-export quarantine to travel to Australia. MRI of the distal limbs will only be permitted where a CT scan is not reasonably accessible. Standing CT technology is available in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, France and Germany. Japan and Ireland remain without high-quality standing CT technology commensurate with that in Australia.
• For international horses competing in Victoria and local horses in the Melbourne Cup, where a mandatory CT scan has identified a potential issue, a follow-up Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan will now be accessible, time permitting, to further assist in determining the horse's suitability to race. To afford an opportunity for PET scanning, the window for horses entered in the Melbourne Cup to present for their compulsory pre-race CT scan has been extended, now opening prior to the Caulfield Cup.
• All Melbourne Cup acceptors must be in Victoria in sufficient time for their physical veterinary inspection on the day prior to the race. This inspection will no longer be permitted interstate.

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