Quentin Wallace is the creator and founder of International Racehorse Transport (IRT). He was an inspired, energetic 24-year-old when he founded IRT in 1972 is involved till date, together with Lachlan Ford as CEO. The warm and professional demeanor Quentin embraces puts people at immediate ease and the hall mark of IRT’s excellent professional and personal service to its clients. IRT is working closely with Racing NSW for ''The Everest" & Racing Victoria (RVL) for the Melbourne Spring Carnival.
Secretariat’s World in conversation with IRT’s Quentin Wallace and Lachlan Ford.
Q - Although IRT began in Melbourne, it has grown into the world’s largest horse transport company. Could you tell us more about the business today?
A - With 7 offices located in USA, UK, Germany, New Zealand & Australia. IRT transports over 6,000 horses a year, and usually have a horse in the air, somewhere in the world, every hour of everyday. Our initial employees have remained with us, now mentoring the younger team members including a team of flying grooms, who well trained and experienced horsemen, insuring a level of horse care second to none.
Q - Assuming that the risks have remained the same over time, what has changed in terms of policies, equipment and treatment of these horses which have made it air travel safer?
A - The jet plane and the air stable (jet stall) have been the major positive developments in the last 50 years. The former has significantly reduced travel time & the latter provides for a safe environment not only for the horse but also the accompanying attendant. A greater awareness of travel sickness, pioneered by Dr Des Leadon in the 1980’s using IRT flights to Australia as his platform for his research, remains a leader in this field. Thanks to Dr Leadon, more is now known about the causes of travel stress and shipping fever, along with the early recognition and treatment, which is the prime cause of concern when transporting horses.
Q - Are the regulations the same world over?
A - How you manage horses in flight is pretty universal and has not changed much since horses stated to fly regularly in the 1960’s. The best insurance is to use good horseman with as much flight experience as possible. Additionally giving more space through loading 2 horses to an air stable instead of 3 horses is another way, although costly, of improving the safety.
A more recent development has been the introduction of a network of ministry approved quarantines around the world, which together with our global offices, long standing relationships with airlines and Government Departments ideally places IRT to provide seamless, swift and safe horse transport to all points of the globe.
Q - You focus has always been the future. Where is IRT interms of digitization and its affect on IRT?
A - IRT has embraced the new digital world by developing a tailor made computer software to hold data & manage flights but its all about the personal touch when it comes to providing it’s personal touch when it comes to servicing and keeping clients informed.
Q - With air travel becoming a very important component of the thoroughbred racing and breeding industry, what inevitable changes are expected in the near future?
A - International Race meetings have become the shop window of the Thoroughbred Industry, whether through recently introduced meetings like the Breeders Cup, the UAE World Cup, the Hong Kong International Races or through internationalization of existing meeting such as Royal Ascot, the Melbourne Cup and most recently with the introduction of The Pegasus & The Everest races. With international runners bringing increased crowds and betting turnover, the number of international runners seems to be on the increase.
Q - Do you have any anecdotes around shipping in the early days which you would like to share?
A - In the 1970’s when IRT was founded all horses travelling to Australia had to be resident in the United Kingdom for 6 months and then fly via Canada & Hawaii to Australia. Late in the 1970’s this changed so horses from North America could quarantine in Canada. This coincided with the introduction of the 747 Jumbo jet freighter which, to build economical loads, required IRT to combine horse loads from UK & Canada whilst filling any empty space with cats, dogs, zoo animals, Deer, cattle, pigs, rabbits, chimpanzees, birds etc. These flights quickly became nicknamed Noah’s Ark.
Published In EverestDiaries Issue 1, Vol 1
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