EQUINE WELFARE BULLETIN
Liam O’Keeffe is responsible for keeping the Flemington track in tip-top shape. He and his team are dedicated to making the world-famous turf as perfect and as safe as can be. As well as knowing the track intimately, they also want to ensure they know exactly how a racehorse functions. Liam recently spent the day in the John, Wayne and Michael Hawkes stable at Flemington, where approximately 30 horses are in training. Here, Liam recounts his day shadowing this stable of horses, in particular a two-year- old bay filly named Vandoula Lass, affectionately known around the stable by her nickname, Lass. 4am It begins with an early start to the day. Stable staff arrive, and their first job is to check every horse’s feed bin and report to Wayne if any feed is left uneaten. If any feed left in the horse’s feeder is out of character for the horse, this indicates to the trainer that the horse might be feeling a little off-colour. The trainer will then adjust the horse’s routine for that day accordingly. In addition to monitoring feeds, every horse has its temperature taken, another assessment to ensure the horses are feeling well. Staff prepare breakfast for each horse and empty, clean and fill water buckets. Horses then leave the stables for a morning swim in the equine swimming pool. While the horse is out of the box, the space is cleaned, with fresh bedding of shavings or straw prepared for the horse to relax on during the day. 5am Every day Flemington horses have access to eight world-class training tracks totalling over 12km in length and 10 hectares in size. All training tracks and pathways around the stables are manicured by track staff 24 hours a day, 365 days a year ensuring that every training track and pathway to and from the tracks are of optimal standard each and every time a horse walks out of their stable to exercise. Lass leaves the stable for some exercise and goes for trot and canter on the sand track before having a gallop on our Polytrack. The $4.5 million Polytrack was built 18 months ago and provides a beautiful, reliable surface for horses to gallop on each day. 6am Lass returns to the stable and has a roll, kick and play in the sand roll. A sand roll is an enclosed room with a deep bed of sand where the horses can carry on like kids and roll around in the sand having some fun. After some playtime she has a shower and shampoo in the wash bay. She is then A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A RACEHORSE BY LIAM O’KEEFFE, SENIOR MANAGER FLEMINGTON RACECOURSE
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