The Australian Racing Board has introduced a new rule making it compulsory for Managing Owners or Trainer to notify RISA on the retirement and death of their horse.
It is compulsory for the Managing Owner of a horse to notify either Harness Racing Australia, for Standardbreds, or Racing Australia, for Thoroughbreds, if their horse has retired from racing or has died.
Notification can be made online by logging into the relevant site or by completing the applicable form below:
- Retirement or notification of death of horse (thoroughbred) form
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The current system only requires a stable return for when a horse leaves a stable and approximately half of horses exiting a stable go to other trainers so we have no exact knowledge of the destination of ex-racehorses or even how many there are.
The ARB has identified that retirement of a racehorses is a vitally important welfare issue and PRAs have adopted a number of re-homing programs to this end. The statistical data sought by implementing these changes are an essential element in tracking retired racehorses. The rule changes come in to effect 1 July.