The editorial stops the Japanese raid on the spring carnival
Japanese star Lys Gracieux won the 2019 Cox Plate. There will be no representation from Japan at this year’s Spring Carnival. Photo: Mark Evans/Getty ImagesJapanese racers won’t be in action at the upcoming Spring Carnival for a reason.
They can’t get to Melbourne.
Japanese runners have won various editions of the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup in the past 16 years, but have missed the last two carnivals as Covid has affected global travel.
Racing Victoria international scout Paul Bloodworth said the worldwide pandemic has caused changes in various regulations that transport companies must adhere to.
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Unfortunately for Racing Victoria, a rule change has made it impossible for Japanese jockeys to travel to Melbourne, despite the tireless efforts of racehorse transport company IRT.
“The issue they had, on what was the case, is that the flight they were doing, a flight from Japan to Hong Kong, then Hong Kong to Australia, you couldn’t get the groomsmen on the plane to fly. from Hong Kong to Australia,” Bloodworth said.
“That means you can’t have a horse on the plane.
“They are cargo flights and have no people on board except the pilots.
“That’s the issue we have.”
Racing Victoria international scout Paul Bloodworth hopes there will be a solution by next year’s spring carnival. Photo: Vince Caligiuri-Getty Images
Bloodworth noted that Japanese runners have been able to travel to the US, the Middle East and Europe for various races.
However, those trips were on charter flights, which are too expensive for the small number of Japanese horses that would travel to Victoria.
“We looked at a charter flight, but with the charter flight there is a huge cost and it only works when you have volumes of horses,” Bloodworth said.
“When the Japanese have sent horses to Dubai, Saudi Arabia or Hong Kong, that’s what they did, they used charter flights.
“They’ve sent eight to 10 horses and it’s been economical, but if we put it on, we might only have four or five.”
Bloodworth said work will continue to resolve the issue.
He hoped a solution could be found in time for next year’s spring carnival.
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