From today, 1 May 2015, owners of horses who have not bred or competed in an official trial or race are now able to change names regardless of the age of the horse.
In response to a marked increase in requests for name changes of older horses, Harness Racing Australia (HRA) put the name change proposition to Members at the mid-season meeting on 20 April 2015, where it was unanimously supported.
Cancelled names will become available again twelve months after the cancellation is confirmed.
The meeting also approved a new practice of identifying the country of origin of imported foreign bred horses with a three letter suffix. This will occur in all instances other than for New Zealand (NZ) and Canada (CA), and be located at the end of a horses name in all relevant documents, guides and reports.
The Stud Book Regulations have been adjusted accordingly and a full copy can be found here http://www.harness.org.au/ausbreed/studbookregs.pdf.
For further information, please contact HRA on 03 9227 3000.