TRIP TO RHODOS

Racing Victoria (RV) today announced that it has unfortunately had to advise the connections of Trip To Rhodos that it will not be permitted to travel from the Czech Republic to Australia to compete in this year’s Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on 1 November.

The Pavel Tuma-trained stayer was a surprise last minute entry for the $6.2 million race becoming the first Czech horse to be nominated for Australia’s premier race. He was one of 31 international horses entered for the 2016 edition.

Since the release of nominations on Tuesday afternoon, RV has been investigating the logistics of shipping the horse to Melbourne with international authorities and the Australian Government.

The Australian Government has advised that as it does not have an agreement with the Czech Republic for the importation of horses into Australia, Trip To Rhodos must spend 60 days in a country approved for import before travelling to Melbourne.

A subsequent request for special exemption for the horse has been denied, thus ruling out the chance of him competing in this year’s Melbourne Cup.

RV International Recruitment Officer, Leigh Jordon, said, “The connections were extremely keen to contest the Melbourne Cup and are naturally very disappointed that they will not be able to do so. While the horse is permitted to travel freely throughout Europe, the fact that he is based in the Czech Republic has meant that he cannot satisfy Australian quarantine protocols in time to contest this year’s Cup and thus he won’t be coming.

“We now hope to work with the Australian Government over the next 12 months on what opportunities exist to allow future entries from the Czech Republic to travel more freely to Australia.”