Fed: McGauran says lockdown working so far=2

AAP General News (Australia)
08-27-2007
Fed: McGauran says lockdown working so far=2

But Mr McGauran could not say whether the Melbourne Cup would be affected by the outbreak.

"It's too early to say," the minister told the Nine Network.

"The problem is that these race horses that are going to compete in the distance races
through the spring carnival need these preliminary races to get fit so if the race is
deferred they obviously don't get that race fitness."

Any moves by racing authorities in Victoria to defy the ban to allow the Spring Racing
Carnival to go ahead would be extremely unwise, he said.

"It's true racing programming is a matter for the race clubs, but the governments,
both state and federal, want to contain the outbreak of this exotic disease and you do
need a national approach for that."

Sydney horse trainer John O'Shea said he is confident racing will be back on track
well before the Melbourne Cup.

"I don't think there will be any affect (on) the Spring Racing Carnival long term,"

he told the Nine Network.

"You'll find that because of the due diligence that we've applied here in the last
week or so that we'll get on top of this relatively quickly and we should be back racing
at worst within a fortnight."

But the local racing industry had already suffered severely becasue of the outbreak.

"If we can't go to the races then obviously we struggle to make ends meet," Mr O'Shea said.

"Some of our staff have had to be put off, they're still on pay, but they've had to
be put off because they've come into contact with some of the horses at Centennial Park.

So it's a tough time for everyone."

AAP kc/sco

KEYWORD: STALLIONS MCGAURAN 2 SYDNEY (REOPENS)

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