Warrnambool Vet Clinic is exploring options to set up on-course veterinary facilities at the city’s track to keep pace with the racing industry’s boom.
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Equine vet Michael Wraight said he worked full time on horses across the south-west.
He said the Warrnambool Racing Club and the vet clinic were planning veterinary facilities on course and went “hand-in-hand with the growth” of the racing industry in the area.
“There is no question there has been growth,” Dr Wraight said.
“If you focus on the racehorse training, the difference has been from part-time trainers to fully professional trainers now. That has been the biggest change, there are a lot more professional trainers with a lot more horses in work than there was 10 or 15 years ago. Those trainers employ a lot more full-time workers.”
Warrnambool City Council’s director of city growth Andrew Paton said it was estimated one in every 14 adults had direct employment or participant involvement with the racing industry in the south-west.
“That makes our region the most active in Victoria in terms of participation in the industry,” he said.
Dr Wraight said the majority of his work was with racehorses, but looked after pleasure horses used for showing, jumping or hobby riding pursuits.
“It becomes a positive cycle in that the young trainers and new trainers in the area can train more horses, have more success, get better horses and win better races,” he said.
“They can grow from that and increase the number of people employed.”
Dr Wraight said the numbers and quality of racehorses had risen.
“The biggest trainer (in the south-west) is obviously Darren Weir,” he said.
“We work cooperatively with the Ballarat Vet Clinic on Weir’s horses. His number of horses is growing to more than 100. Of all the other racehorses there is probably 250 we look after.”
Dr Wraight has worked at the May carnival for 20 years and is assisted by fellow vet Charlie Blackwood.
“We attend all of the starts at the barriers, follow the horses around in the jumps races and check any horses before and after the races,” he said. “We do the majority of the clinical work and the Racing Victoria Limited vets do the swabbing.”
He noted there had been a decrease in falls and injuries since rule changes were implemented for jumps racing.
Mr Paton said there had been considerable growth in the horse training industry over successive years with more than 110 horses trained every morning on course.
“The estimated economic value of the racing industry in the Western District is in excess of $100 million in value added contribution to the Gross State Product.”