Stewards' Report - Macedon Lodge

Racing Victoria (RV) stewards advise that a case of Strangles has been confirmed in the John Symons and Sheila Laxon trained Forest Place, an unraced three-year-old located at registered training property Macedon Lodge.

Stewards officially declared the facility an “infected place” on Wednesday, 24 September pursuant to Australian Rule of Racing 89(4), thus requiring all horses to continue to remain at the property. 

This followed the Symons and Laxon stable reporting to the Stewards last Friday, 19 September that several of their horses had presented with elevated temperatures. 

At that time Stewards advised the Symons and Laxon partnership, licensed trainer Liam Howley, and licensed pre-trainer Nelson Smyth - each of which has horses in their care located at Macedon Lodge - that all horses located on the property were required to remain there until the results of testing were known.

Samples collected on 19 September from horses at the property initially returned inconclusive results regarding the cause of the elevated temperatures. Further analysis of those original samples has now confirmed the positive case of Strangles.  

Further testing will continue to take place next week, as previously announced, to ascertain whether there are any additional cases of Strangles within the horses at Macedon Lodge.

The results of those tests will help determine when horse movement from/to the training property may resume. Until then, all horses located at Macedon Lodge remain under the watchful eye of stable veterinarians and are not permitted to exit the premises without prior approval of the Stewards.

Strangles is an infectious bacterial condition that is transmitted via direct contact between individual horses and/or through indirect contact in several ways. Contaminated feed, water, bedding, stables, stable utensils, halters, brushes, boots, clothing and transport vehicles are important in the spread of infection.

Strangles usually causes upper respiratory tract disease, but can also affect the lungs. It is highly contagious although rarely fatal.