Studs and farms hit as fires continue to rage in Victoria
Thoroughbreds on major farms and training centres in Victoria have been evacuated as bushfires continued to rage across the state, a crisis the emergency services have described as ‘catastrophic.’
After temperatures soared on Thursday, Friday’s equally scorching and windy conditions have contributed to scores of fires breaking out across the state.
The Longwood area, situated between Seymour and Euroa, south of the Hume Freeway, has been severely affected as the fires ripped through the area leading to hundreds of horses, both thoroughbreds and other breeds, needing to be moved to safety in the last 48 hours.
As conditions remain volatile across the region, neighbouring stud farms to those affected, including Sullivan Bloodstock, Swettenham Stud and Noorilim Park have stepped up to assist properties in need, including Michael Christian’s Longwood Thoroughbred Farm and the Leneva Park pre-training operation.
After suffering damage to fences and paddocks on Thursday, Leneva Park’s Mick Sharkie said that there was no let up on Friday and structures were now ‘under major threat’ as winds continued to increase.
He said: “Unfortunately Leneva Park has been hit again by fire today as the wind has strengthened. Structures under major threat, CFA doing their best to protect under much duress during this catastrophic event,”
Earlier on Friday, Sharkie described in more detail the dire situation facing many of the industry participants and horse owners across the state of Victoria.
“Our property was safe, so much so that the CFA allowed Channel 7 to come on the property and film with a crew to show the edge of the fire at the back boundary of the property,” he told SEN Track.
“They were filming and the wind changed. The fire literally leapt the hill in about two or three minutes and started racing down towards our place and we had to move people at a rate of knots.”
Remarkably, he said the mares and foals on his property escaped unscathed.
“It’s mind-boggling. Not one horse had a scratch on them. I was watching the Channel 7 vision and we saw some of our mares and foals skipping through a burnt out paddock and Sarah [Beaumont, operations manager] said she put them in that paddock, a big wide open paddock and prayed, but it caught fire.
“She said she watched the mares lead the foals around the areas that were already burned. I don’t know, they’re just remarkable animals, they keep themselves safe.”
On Friday afternoon, Lindsay Park’s Will Hayes confirmed in a statement to SEN that all horses, staff and infrastructure were safe after the fires reached his family’s famous Euroa property in Victoria overnight.
He said: “Last night we were hit directly – CFA [Country Fire Authority] are heroes. All horses are okay – they’ve been fed, have water and all necessary veterinary treatments been given. Bunkering down for another scary day and thinking of everyone in the community,”
In response to the crisis, Inglis, the country’s leading sales house, has opened its Oaklands Junction property in Melbourne to house horses affected by bushfires that are raging across Victoria.
Price from Inglis said the decision followed discussions with Racing Victoria amid a surge in calls from concerned horse owners, with capacity available for several hundred horses.
“Yesterday morning, we spoke to Racing Victoria and their welfare department, and they were concerned about the growing number of calls they were receiving from horse owners, around the state, about what may happen,” Price told SENTrack.
“We are obviously very happy to help anybody. Our gates are open, here at Oaklands. We have got stables bedded down, water and staff available to help. Anybody who has horses in danger areas, or are concerned about conditions that may develop, please, just reach out.”
Despite the ongoing threat, Racing Victoria (RV) chief executive Aaron Morrison told SEN Track all properties in the affected area have reported no injuries to horses or industry participants.
He said: “The first priority is that we’ve checked in on the safety of our participants and horses. So far that’s OK. The good news is that there hasn’t been any impact from a human or equine perspective in terms of injury.
“There’s no critical issues there, which is the best news of all.
“It’s been a challenging 24 hours for people right across the industry. Some farms have moved their horses into the Nagambie stud region.
“A lot of those properties have taken on horses from that Longwood region.”
Morrison said stewards would continue to monitor the situation while RV would help any participants who needed assistance moving their horses to safety.
He said: “The stewards are reaching out and are in regular contact and there’s also a WhatsApp chat group that is running with a lot of individuals in that.”
RV has urged industry participants to remain vigilant as extreme fire conditions persist, with emergency support services available. Assistance with horse welfare can be accessed through the RV Equine Welfare Team on (03) 9258 4258 (Option 4), while emergency agistment options are listed on the Racing Victoria website.
Free counselling support is also available through Stableline (1300 520 122) for industry participants and the TBA Support Line (1300 822 935) for stud staff.
Horse owners requiring agistment can contact James Price at Inglis on 0409 806 595. Emergency updates relating to the racing industry will be communicated via @RVStewards on X, with the broader community encouraged to monitor VicEmergency and call 000 in an emergency.