THERE was further good news on the Brexit front for Irish consignors and vendors when it was confirmed that EIA (Coggins) test results from the Irish Equine Centre will be accepted by the British authorities for Irish horses sold in England and being re-exported to other EU countries.

The breakthrough will help vendors of yearlings in upcoming sales at Newmarket, particularly the relocated Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale.

Since the start of this year, if a European purchaser bought an Irish-consigned horse at an English sale new blood tests had to be taken before that horse could be cleared for export to continental Europe. This often involved sending bloods by courier to the Weybridge laboratory outside London and it could take up to a week before the results were known.

Sarah McNicholas, chief executive of the Equine Centre, said: “Based on the experiences of many Irish vendors so far this year, this is very good news and I am delighted it has happened. It was a logistical nightmare getting samples processed in a timely manner in Britain.

“Common sense has finally prevailed and now all Irish horses will be ‘mobile’ when going from the UK on to an EU country. This breakthrough has simplified matters for vendors and consignors.”

Some Irish vendors felt that their horses were being discriminated against at British sales this year as potential European buyers could see the relevant health certificates associated with each horse in the sales company’s repository. They may have been put off buying an Irish-consigned horse as they would know that there would be complications post-sale.

McNicholas added: “We received notification at lunchtime on Wednesday that our certification would be recognised by the British authorities. I hit the phones immediately but unfortunately the news came just too late for this week’s Goffs UK sales.”

Shane O’Dwyer, CEO of the Irish Thoroughbred Breeder’ Association, commented: “This is very good news and is a direct result of the many hours of work the ITBA has done to get it across the line.”