HRA is pleased to announce that as of June 14 2019 the industry will now have the ability to complete Deregistration and Deceased forms online in HarnessWeb.

It is a rule of harness racing that all horses must be deregistered once a decision is made to no longer race or breed from them and in the case of a horse dying the notification must be made within 24 hours for horses who have raced/trialed/been nominated within the previous 14 days or within 7 days for all other horses. This process does not affect their eligibility to compete in Standardbred equestrian events or in any way affect their performance record in the studbook however it is vitally important for HRA to be able to accurately manage and track Standardbreds throughout their lives and understand at what stage they are leaving the industry and why.

As part of this update the option to Deregister a horse from Breeding is now available with corresponding rules requiring the deregistration of retired breeding stock to come into effect from 2020. Currently a horse can be Deregistered from racing only and can still go on to have a breeding career, however once that career has finished the new rules will require the horse be deregistered from both racing and breeding with a forward destination such as paddock companion, equestrian career etc listed.

HRA CEO Andrew Kelly said,

‘HRA are extremely grateful to RISE for their efforts in making this happen. As with all new initiatives it can take some getting used to and HRA recognize that being able to complete the process online is far more efficient for our busy industry and we hope to see more timely and accurate notifications coming in as a result.’

HRA strongly encourage industry participants to ensure they are completing all transfers, be they ownership transfers or horses which have died or retired in a timely and thorough manner.  The information gathered allows HRA to track any trends that may need further attention such as injury rates and retirement statistics and accurate horse population data will greatly assist in future planning and dynamic programming of racing.

Australian Harness Racing already leads the way in many aspects of equine welfare and aims to be at the forefront in terms of horse traceability.

moving forward.