International Racehorse Transport

by Sue Finley and Dan Ross Few commercial sectors appear immune from the current administration's sweeping import tariffs, and that includes horse racing's biggest Saturday of the year, with Japan's participants in the GI Kentucky Derby potential targets of the trade war. Stressing a general air of uncertainty surrounding the tariff specifics, Matt Haug, general manager of International Racehorse Transport (IRT), said that, as he and his customs broker understood the situation, the Japanese-trained Luxor Cafe (American Pharoah) is exempt from any tariff being a U.S.-bred runner. For foreign-bred horses--like...

International Racehorse Transport (IRT) Head of Operations Jim Paltridge has stepped down to manage his outside business interests, including a family farm in South Australia, IRT announced on Thursday. Paltridge joined IRT in 1983 and established the company's presence in the United States, first in Los Angeles and later on in Lexington and New York. He took over the UK office in 1992 and was also responsible for opening a branch in Germany. Paltridge managed the European end of the stallion shuttle to Australian/New Zealand every year, as well as...

Over the last week Australasian studs have begun to release their stallion fees for 2020, including for a number of shuttle stallions from Europe. The skies, however, have been notably light on air traffic since the coronavirus pandemic sent many nations into lockdown, and that has included a vast reduction in flights carrying horses. The breeding side of the racing business has thankfully been able to carry on largely unaffected. Under strict sanitary rules, broodmares have still been able to be transported for covering, and there is some reassurance of...