THIS Supreme Court case in Melbourne involving owner Lloyd Williams, his $1.15m horse Amralah and a Ballarat vet is interesting.
Williams and his co-owners filed a suit against the vet Dr Brian Anderson of BVP claiming his negligence caused them "catastrophic loss and harm".
The outcome could influence the future cortisone treatment of horses in this country.
Amralah was one of the favourites to win the Melbourne Cup when he was withdrawn on October 31 - three days before the cup. He had a positive test to Dexafort - a cortisone commonly used on horses.
According to an AAP report the owners filed a writ in the Victorian Supreme Court last week seeking damages claiming they missed out on “potential winnings in the millions due to having to withdraw the thoroughbred from the Melbourne Cup and the Emirates Stakes”.
On September 4, Dr Anderson injected Amralah with the long-acting cortisone, and advised it would take 14 days to leave the horse’s system. Amralah won the Listed Penang Trophy at Morphettville on September 19 and subsequently won the Herbert Power Stakes, to gain a start in the Melbourne Cup. The horse was given a second injection of Dexafort after his Herbert Power win, but on October 23, Racing SA stewards notified connections of the positive swab.
In a similar situation in 1992, Better Loosen Up was unable to defend his Australian Cup title. He was treated with cortisone three weeks before the Australian Cup, but a test on the eve of the race revealed the substance wasn’t out of his system and he was scratched. Vets were not blamed.
Asked to comment on the case, a prominent NQ horse vet said 12 days was usually considered safe but some vets recommended longer, depending on the animal.
No doubt another big win looming for the lawyers.
Townsville owners tackle RQ
THREE heavies from Racing Queensland invited themselves to the Townsville Turf Club AGM last week and RQ operations manager Declan Martschinke was unprepared for questions thrown at him by concerned owners.
He was unable to tell one local breeder the future of QTIS, but did say to one TTC member outside the meeting that the future of the country racing was in grave doubt. According to the committee man “he didn’t just mean the smaller provincial clubs either”, which has caused a bit of consternation around the ridges.
Martschinke was under the gun of two-year-old owners who complained about the lack of races, particularly for maiden two-year-olds in the north and that it would seriously affect buying interest at the upcoming sales. To his credit, next day a list of races and dates was sent to the TTC and while Townsville seems to be lacking, there are ample races programmed for Mackay and Cairns until June next year.
