The microchipping of Standardbreds born in Australia has been in place for 3 years now and as such the first crop of microchipped foals are beginning to enter the racing population.
Therefore it is a timely opportunity to clarify the requirements for microchips in imported horses that are racing in Australia.
The requirement is that any Standardbred horse foaled in 2017 onwards needs to be microchipped before it is allowed to trial/race in Australia.
The horse will not be able to be registered with your State Controlling Body and be eligible to trial or race until such time as the microchip number has been received by them.
It is a New Zealand Government requirement for any horse being exported from New Zealand after 1 December 2019 to be microchipped prior to leaving the country, however 2017 born horses who arrived in Australia prior to this date were not subject to this requirement and will likely need to be microchipped.
The microchips do not need to be HRA issued microchips, but they do need to meet the HRA regulations to ensure they can be scanned and read on race day, the regulations can be found here.
http://www.harness.org.au/rules/hra-microchipping-regs.pdf
A registered veterinarian must implant the microchip according to the HRA regulations and sign a declaration form to that effect. The horse’s connections must then return that form to the State Controlling Body.
Any questions regarding this process can be directed to Kathleen Mullan at kmullan@hra.com.au.
