Randjesfontein horses have been subjected to a 40 day travel ban as it falls within a 30km radius of a recent positive case of African Horse Sickness (AHS). Sean Tarry is also affected by the ban as he plans to run Carry On Alice in the Cape Flying Championship and Trip To Heaven in the R1 million Cape Thoroughbred Sales Stakes, both on January 24.
Both De Kock and Tarry said today that the efforts to provide the best possible solution for the horses’ transport to the Cape included “legal wrangles.”
According to De Kock the state veterinary authority will grant permission for the horses to be moved to a training centre outside of the 30km radius, in this case The Vaal, where they will only have to stay for 14 days before being allowed to travel to Cape Town. This will enable runners for the Cape Flying Championship and J&B Met to reach Cape Town in time.
However, De Kock added that this alternative would mean a change of training tracks and environment, which was not ideal for a horse, and would also be subject to boxes being available, so he wondered whether it would be worthwhile.
Tarry said that everything was still “up in the air”, but that it was paramount that there was some sort of development “within the next 48 hours”, so that The Vaal option could at least be considered.
Pine Princess’s travel will obviously depend entirely on a solution being found within those 48 hours.
Tarry said there was a “lot going on” in the efforts to find a solution, including the case being “with the lawyers”. The connections of the horses are also awaiting a reply from a letter sent to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF). Tarry said that it was “alarming” that this letter, sent as a matter of urgency on December 28, had still not been replied to.
The travel ban was made by the state veterinary authority in order to protect the AHS Controlled Area in the Western Cape in line with the export protocol negotiated with the European Union (EU) in 1997.
De Kock, who spoke yesterday from his training centre in Dubai, admitted recently to having become increasingly demoralised by the AHS saga, which has had a severe impact on the racing and trading prospects of the South African thoroughbred as a whole and also on his own international ambitions.
He said recently that South Africa should “stop pandering” to the EU and instead concentrate their efforts on alternative solutions, and he said yesterday that it sent “a poor message” to the rest of the world that “we can’t travel our own horses around our own country.”
