From Beldale Ball to Pretendre, Black Caviar and Romantic Warrior, IRT has been instrumental in getting horses to the finishing line and into serving sheds around the world for decades now. We had a chat with the company's Lachlan Ford as they celebrate a significant 50-year milestone.
When Beldale Ball (USA) won the 1980 G1 Melbourne Cup he created his own bit of history as the first modern-day imported winner of Australia's most famous race. Not since Backwood (Ire) in 1924 had a northern hemisphere bred horse won the race and of course, he headed to our shores by boat. Making Beldale Ball the first Melbourne Cup winner to head from north to south by plane - and it was Quentin Wallace's relatively new company IRT, who the year before had flown him to Australia.
And before that, Wallace had organised the flight of the very first shuttle stallion (a term that was yet to be coined) to Australasia, the high-class galloper Pretendre (GB); a big-race winner who was only just beaten as favourite by the Scobie Breasley ridden Charlottown (GB) in the 1966 G1 Epsom Derby.
Quentin Wallace, founder of IRT
Waikato Stud was founded in 1967 by the American Nelson Bunker Hunt. He had been enjoying success purchasing New Zealand-bred fillies to race and breed from in the United States and thus had a good eye for international racing.
And so Pretendre, who had first stood in the United States from where he sired the G1 Kentucky Derby/G1 Preakness hero Canonero (USA), a horse whose cheap price -tag made him rather popular - made his way to Waikato.
Sadly he died young, aged only nine, but he still managed to make his mark with small numbers, siring 13 stakes winners including the G1 Avondale Cup winner Paul de Brett (NZ).
Horses in flight in the early 1970s
It was 1974 which saw IRT shuttle its first two stallions to Australia - the Group 1 -winning sprinters Deep Diver (Ire) and Green God (GB). The former sired 10 stakes winners including the G1 Show Day Cup winner Submariner (NZ) who is remembered as giving Damien Oliver his first big race success whilst the latter was represented by 12 stakes winners with one of his daughters producing the European Champion 3Y0 Filly Ramruma (USA) (Diesis {GB}).
During that era, planes where chartered by IRT and Quentin would endeavour to fill each flight in order to make each journey as economically viable as possible. But on occasions there would not be enough horses and so other animals would hop on board.
Such as domestic pets and zoo animals of all sorts, leading to these flights earning the amusing nickname of “Noah's Ark”.
Horses and staff waiting on the tarmac prior to boarding
“But these days we use what is called scheduled service”, Lachlan Ford explained.
“There is a network of freight planes flying around the world and we book space on those.”
In those early days IRT, established in 1972 by the then 24-year-old Wallace, was a “one-man show”, growing from that into the multi-national company that now celebrates its 50th anniversary.
A large team of full-time staff man offices in Melbourne, Auckland, Los Angeles, Chicago, Newmarket, Stadthagen, with access to a state-of-the-art software system unique to the industry.
Lorna Wallace and Lyn Dressing in the early days' IRT office
Created by IRT Managing Director Chris Burke, the programme allows every staff member in every location to track what is happening in real-time.
“It is a fantastic system that Chris brought in about twelve years ago, and we are improving on it every year,” Ford said.
Arriving in Australia in 1966, gaining work as a jackaroo in western Victoria, the UK-born Quentin Wallace noticed a high demand for horses returning to the UK to begin shipping horses to Australia by sea.
LEP, a large UK-based shipping and forwarding agency was deployed for this but by the early 1970s the sea shipping of horses to Australasia hit a sizeable snag - the Panama Canal route closed due to an outbreak of Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis.
Ray West, pictured at the UK National Stud quarantine office
It was the second time the route had been shut off, years earlier due to African Horse Sickness.
With the opportunity to become involved with the flying of horses from the United States to Australasia, Wallace moved back to Victoria and on the back of knowledge he had gained regarding the routes between the UK, Australia, New Zealand and the US, IRT was born.
Chartering aircraft in the UK to fly horses to Australia, he then sent other horses on to America and after a decade of building up the business, Wallace set to build a worldwide network.
IRT NZ partner, David Cole
Thus in 1982 IRT UK was (in partnership with John Bidwell) established, followed by IRT New Zealand (taking over, with David Cole as partner and managing director, NZ International Horse Transport in 1984), IRT USA (in 1984, run by Jim Paltridge) and most recently IRT Germany (2004).
It was a service not previously seen in the horse movement industry, IRT worked closely with government bodies and key industry stakeholders in an endeavour to streamline the process, thus reducing the travel time and the associated risks.
“There is a direct correlation between length of flights and travel sickness,” Ford said, noting that incidences of serious illness have declined markedly over the years; the company taking note of any research in the field.
Such as studies proving that the horse's respiratory system works best when horses eat from the ground as they would in their natural environment, leading to hay being placed on the floor during flights.
The establishment of an IRT offshoot - First Point Animal Services - at Melbourne Airport - has also seen a decrease in health issues with horses loading and unloading in a secure, quiet, calm environment in a timely manner.
Lys Gracieux (Jpn) in the air stall
Horses are, Ford said, “wonderful travellers.”
“It really is amazing how rarely we have to use sedation, only really a small amount as a last resort for a horse who is proving difficult to load. Once they are on the plane they find it very comfortable, they have other horses around them and the human access is good.”
“Once they are on the plane they find it very comfortable, they have other horses around them and the human access is good.” - Lachlan Ford
It is loading, unloading, taking off and landing that horses find the most difficult to adapt to anything foreign to them. But the vast majority take it into stride with Ford noticing that “some breeds are better than others”.
“Standardbreds tend to be the best. Thoroughbreds can be a hotter breed overall but they are still great travellers.
“One query we get a lot is people wondering how horses can stand for such long periods of time but they do that anyway and it just doesn't bother them.”
Ford has noted a link between the class of an animal and its travelling prowess with the top-line horses tending to be the types who do not let much faze them.
Jim Paltridge and Black Caviar
Such as Black Caviar (Bel Esprit), who IRT transported to and from the UK for her Royal Ascot tilt or more recently just this week in fact, Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) who by Tuesday was already back at Sha Tin after becoming the first Hong Kong horse to enjoy G1 WS Cox Plate success. Wins like that provide IRT's staff with a big thrill.
“We put a lot of time and work into each journey,” Ford said. “In the case of Romantic Warrior it was six months worth of organisation. There is the actual trip to plan, the quarantine requirements, the health checks and in his case getting the right food to Melbourne.”
Little wonder then, after spending such an amount of time working with one horse and his connections that there is a level of satisfaction when plans come to fruition at the finishing line.
“In the case of (flying) Romantic Warrior it was six months worth of organisation. There is the actual trip to plan, the quarantine requirements, the health checks and in his case getting the right food to Melbourne.” - Lachlan Ford
The G1 Caulfield Cup was another good result for IRT. “Not many people know this but West Wind Blows came out on the same flight as Romantic Warrior,” Ford said. “He hopped aboard in Amsterdam and we picked up the Cox Plate winner in Hong Kong.”
“Our staff really enjoyed watching those horses do well, this is more than a normal day job,” said Ford. “It is a labour of love.”
There have been a number of history-making moments in IRT's interesting and varied history.
Such as in 1995 when The Moscow Circus horses were transported from Russia via UK to Australia and onto Singapore and Hong Kong.
The first Appaloosa to be imported to Australia
A year later, the company imported the first horses from the UAE to Australia and in 1999, they were appointed the official transport agent for the Hong Kong Jockey Club. And the year after that named the coordinator for all equestrian transport to and from the Sydney Olympic Games... a continuation of an involvement with the Olympic Games stemming back to Munich in 1972.
In 2011 there was a milestone moment with 17 of the 24 Melbourne Cup winners hopping onto IRT planes including the first three across the line, Dunaden (Fr), Red Cadeaux (GB) and Lucas Cranach (GB).
Shuttle stallions have been major business for years, though Ford said numbers have been declining - “in fact this year we moved fewer than ever”.
Red Caudeaux (GB) at Melbourne Airport
There are two reasons for this Ford thinks - one being that “colonial stallions are doing so well” and the other being that a successful northern hemisphere stallion can be worth so much that studs don't want them leaving home.
The flip side to this is that mares will now travel to such stallions with IRT transporting record numbers of mares visiting such stallions as Frankel (GB), Kingman (GB), Siyouni (Fr) and Lope De Vega (Ire).
IRT had many challenges to face during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Ford admitting that there was great concern at the time that the business would have to shut down.
Fortunately, due to the continuation of the racing industries and some expert diplomatic wrangling, IRT had to close its doors for only a couple of months, not losing a single staff member.
IRT have been transporting horses across the globe for over fifty years
“We just told everyone to go home and look after their families,” Ford recalled. “Whilst Chris and I worked with government officials in order to get our guys recognised in the crew members category.
“Kudos to Border Control, they agreed that our staff fit that criteria and our business actually increased in that time.”
There was some adaption that needed to take place with staff flying to Australia for example, spending 24 hours in hotel quarantine before heading back to the Northern Hemisphere with other horses instead of remaining in the country.
Over 8500 horses are transported throughout the world by IRT each year.
“We usually have a horse in the air, somewhere in the world, every hour of every day”. The now retired Wallace said in an interview a few years ago and Ford said “yes that sounds about right!”.
“We usually have a horse in the air, somewhere in the world, every hour of every day.” - Quentin Wallace
Ford loves his work - “every day is different and as a whole horse people are wonderful to work with. You don't often get off the phone and think, 'Gee that person was not very nice'; and you get to meet some great characters whilst also working with wonderful animals.”
