ON Wednesday Racing Victoria announced that International horses flying in for the Melbourne Spring Carnival will no longer be required to undergo the controversial pre-travel scintigraphy.

“The RV veterinary team will focus the use of scintigraphy scans on international horses where their mandatory CT or MRI scans; veterinary history; racing history; and/or pre-travel inspections indicate that the horse may be at a heightened risk of sustaining a serious injury,” read the Racing Victoria press release.

“The change aligns European horses with Japanese horses, where a discretionary protocol was in place in 2021 due to the absence of such technology in Japan.

“The adoption of a targeted approach considers both the benefits and challenges on utilising scintigraphy scans on racehorses in active training, along with analysis of scintigraphy results from the 2021 Spring Racing Carnival and of ongoing research into the prevalent causes of serious injuries in racehorses.”

New Zealand

Imperatriz takes Breeders’

Fiber Fresh NZ Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (Group 1)

THE Mark Walker-trained Imperatriz completed consecutive Group 1 wins on Saturday, winning the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes for fillies and mares, a month after her victory in the Levin Classic at Trentham.

Over Te Rapa’s 1,600 metres Opie Bosson allowed Imperatriz to cruise into the race, travelling three-wide on the bend before burning off her rivals to win by five lengths.

“She is a really classy filly and she just did it so easily on Saturday,” said Bosson. “She has a great turn of foot and that makes it so much easier to get out of trouble if you need to. I could use that speed to work her off the rail around the home bend and put them away pretty quickly in the home straight.”

Left to chase the I Am Invincible filly home was the Shamexpress filly Coventina Bay in second just ahead of the Jimmy Choux mare Two Illicit. The win was Mark Walker’s second Group 1 win for Te Akau since Jamie Richard’s move to Hong Kong.

“She’s a high-class filly and from her first start as a two-year-old you could see how good she was going to be,” said Walker. “She is just getting more mature and Opie took bad luck out of the equation when he popped off the fence and went three-wide.”

Imperatriz is now eligible for a A$1 million bonus should she win the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes at Melbourne Cup Carnival, as the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes is one of 12 qualifying races for the bonus.