Mike de Kock has followed up Hawwaam’s impressive SA Classic win on Saturday with an impassioned plea for the European Union to send inspectors to South Africa to audit the disease control measures so that horses can be exported direct to Europe once more.

He watched the race in Melbourne and said on his website: “We have a horse here that can take on the best in the world but we are being held back by quarantine protocols. We have everything in place and we are desperate for the European Union to inspect us so that we can show them what we have done, show them that the protocol is in place and that we can go and showcase our product to the rest of the world.

“Hawwaam is good enough to race against the best but we are being held back by politics – not science – and the politics are preventing South Africa, with our massive racing industry, to bring the world our thoroughbreds. We can breed world-class runners but we can’t show them to the world because we can’t compete on a level playing-field.”

De Kock is one of the original directors of South African Equine Health and Protocols which was established two years ago to remove the barriers preventing direct equine exports. It’s managing director Adrian Todd said in a Winning Ways interview last month that he aiming to get everything sorted out by June.

He said at the weekend: “The final hurdle is obtaining an audit date from the EU.  The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has requested that the EU conduct an audit of our control measures. However no commitment of an inspection date has yet been forthcoming from the EU.

“We need political assistance to push this over the line once and for all so that South Africa may finally and fully re-enter the world stage. Without exports our industry will collapse but one final political push will provide our country with a flourishing export market and an influx of much-needed foreign investment.”

By Michael Clower