LESS than a week away from the start of the breeding season, the Irish Equine Centre is reminding mare owners of its opening hours, testing facilities and turnaround times.

Chief executive Debbie Grey said: “With some stallions having received ARVAC and others not, many studs will be requesting repeat EVA testing from mare owners.

“The Irish Equine Centre’s reception is manned from 9am to 1pm on Saturdays until June 7th.

“With support from the EBF we are running extra testing for EVA tests to accommodate the needs of studs and mare owners for the 2025 breeding season.

“The Virus Neutralisation test (VNT) is our frontline test for detection of antibodies to equine arteritis virus as it is more sensitive than the ELISA test.”

Results from a VNT takes a minimum of 48 hours. Samples received before 10am are processed each weekday.

The ELISA test has a target turnaround time of 24 hours for samples received before 10am, and is available from Monday to Saturday on request.