Industry Notice- Automatic retirements for horses without an up-to-date status

Under the Australian Harness Racing Rules (AHRR) connections are required to complete a status update within 24 hours ANY time a horse in their care changes locations or the person in charge of it is changed (e.g. during spelling). Trainers are also encouraged to keep each of their horses’ statuses updated accurately, even when they have not changed locations, for example notifying a horse that was In Training is now ready to be Racing. Penalties apply for failing to keep statuses current, including notifications of retirement or death.

Harness Racing Australia (HRA) will shortly be conducting some automated updates to horses deemed Inactive on the HRA databases, giving them a status of Retired or Deceased. Most of these will likely be historical updates where attempts to contact that horse’s connections have been unsuccessful.

For this process, the term Inactive means the horse has not been subject to a status update or has not raced, trialled, bred or been transferred within a set period of time. These time periods differ slightly depending on the horse’s age and gender and the status potentially being assigned to it. The timelines are designed to primarily capture horses that are genuinely no longer active in the industry but the connections have not given formal notice about.

If you have a horse that may technically fit the term Inactive as described above but is not actually Retired or Deceased HRA encourages you to ensure that you process a Status Update on HarnessWeb for that horse prior to 30th August 2024.

For example perhaps you have a horse on an extended spell or that has been in training that you intend to return to racing or a broodmare who has not foaled for several years but you will be breeding with this season, selecting statuses such as Spelling, In Training or ensuring any breeding stock are notified as Retired from Racing will ensure these horses are not inadvertently Retired from Racing and Breeding. Reinstatement is possible for accidental Retirements however the AHRR’s require vet clearances and other paperwork to be completed for this to occur so to avoid administrative burdens a status update should be performed.

The horse status feature in HarnessWeb was originally launched on 28th January 2021. This world first function has undergone continuous development and upgrading since then and allows participants to abide by the enhanced traceability rules introduced in 2023 quickly and efficiently by processing horse status updates online in just a few clicks.

HRA acknowledges that these processes represent some increased administration for the connections of horses however, the expectations of community and governments continue to evolve, and traceability is an important component of the sport’s social licence to operate. Keeping all Standardbred details up to date will help mitigate risks and protect the industry’s most important asset- the horses.