Forty Shuttle Stallions Still Quarantined in Australia

The wait for more than 40 Thoroughbred shuttle stallions at Sydney's quarantine station will continue until samples from the standardbred Astreos are tested in his homeland Canada.

As previously reported on bloodhorse.com, clearance for the shuttles was delayed after the Little Brown Jug winner fell ill with an elevated temperature within days of his due release date from the Eastern Creek Quarantine Center, west of Sydney.

Astreos also exhibited lack of co-ordination, weakness of the hind limbs, muscle twitching and disorientation, symptoms associated with West Nile Virus. The high class son of Artsplace is reported to have made a full recovery. His destination is Alabar Farm in Victoria. He is one of nine standardbreds among the almost 60 horses at the center.

It had been hoped that Fusaichi Pegasus and the others would be released when samples sent to the Australian Animal Health Laboratory at Geelong, Victoria, cleared the horse of West Nile and other viruses. Those tests have so far proved inconclusive, however, investigation for equine herpes still to be completed.

The release of the shuttles to their studs would now appear to rest on the completions of testing at Geelong and perhaps more importantly the analysis of the samples sent to Canadian Department of Agriculture laboratories. Coolmore has six stallions involved with most major Australian farms having at least one shuttle in the waiting room.

Coolmore has postponed its annual stallion parade set down for Sept. 1. Giant's Causeway evaded the logjam and is already at Coolmore's southern headquarters at Jerrys Plains.