NZ Imports - advice sought

Firstly , I am in the very early stages of the following , but have seen solid advice on other matters in the Harness Forum , so will seek some input.

I am thinking of purchasing a couple of lightly races NZ horses , one a Courage Under Fire gelding and the other a Sundon trotting filly.

Both have shown they can run with placings at Ashburton and Addington and are at a "reasonable" , but by no means , bargain prices.

No experience with importing horses from NZ to Australia and wondering if anyone has any experience or advice.

Down the track I can certainly see them both as good enough to race competitively at Menangle or Newcastle ( I may be just a dreamer here, but what the heck!) and with the greatly increased prizemoney in NSW in the coming year , I seek some direction.

This will just be a family venture and in no way would I / we be thinking that this is a way to become "rich". Just a way to increase our harness racing involvement.

Hi Ozninja

Make sure you do your home work on the one from Ashburton as it's a big track and some very average racing besides Jewel's day. I've purchased a few from over there and brought them back by both plane and boat, if there in full work and you want to keep them going i suggest the plane. Price's vary and i havn't brought any back for over a year but i'll make a call tommorrow and find out for you or hopefully Mightymo will read your post and answer this for you as he has them comming out alot more than i do.

Both are spelling at the moment and the owners of each (they are related) are having some financial difficulties and that is why a close NZ contact pointed me toward this.

Am aware that Ashburton form can be a bit "iffy" so am giving this some careful thought. It's not all my money but "family and a friend" money , and naturally there is no guarantee of anything , but don't want to just go ahead and just let my heart rule my head :-(

Over to you, Mightymo.

While you are at it mightymo what is the cost of transport?

Its fair to say I do know a bit about this!:):)

Besides the obvious cost of buying the horse, there are other costs to consider:

Transport - you can either fly or boat. Flying is obviously more expensive but quicker and horses dont take long to recover

Your transport fee will normally include the cost of transporting the horse to the depot as well as the export fee payable to HRNZ.

By Air, approx A$4100. By boat, approx A$2900

Then, you have to put a value on the horses for GST purposes and pay this amount

You also have to pay a clearance agent to get your horse through customs - approx $150-$200

you then also pay to get your horse transported from the wharf to the depot and then possibly onto your farm

Finally, you have to pay your state authority to register the horse. Approx $400 for a colt/gelding, $150 for a mare

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozninja

Firstly , I am in the very early stages of the following , but have seen solid advice on other matters in the Harness Forum , so will seek some input.

I am thinking of purchasing a couple of lightly races NZ horses , one a Courage Under Fire gelding and the other a Sundon trotting filly.

Both have shown they can run with placings at Ashburton and Addington and are at a "reasonable" , but by no means , bargain prices.

No experience with importing horses from NZ to Australia and wondering if anyone has any experience or advice.

Down the track I can certainly see them both as good enough to race competitively at Menangle or Newcastle ( I may be just a dreamer here, but what the heck!) and with the greatly increased prizemoney in NSW in the coming year , I seek some direction.

This will just be a family venture and in no way would I / we be thinking that this is a way to become "rich". Just a way to increase our harness racing involvement.

I follow the NZ form very closely and know many of the trainers/drivers, so happy to do some research for you if you like

Thanks for the information mightymo and time you have taken to reply. We have decided ( my better half , children and I , that is ) after lengthy discussions tonight , to put this on the backburner until we give it a lot more careful consideration. Was not too aware of all the extra costs of getting them over here , although I had not pretended there there would not be lots of extra expenses involved.

If we just let this pass and the filly comes out and wins next year's NZ Trotter's Oaks then it will be disappointing (for us) , but not the end of the world. I really appreciate all the advice and information. Was not expecting such a quick response here.

Hi Ozninja

Yeah there are a lot of thing's to weigh up and having the correct info before begining the process helps understand all cost involved. Thanks for explaining all aspects Mightymo.