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Racing South Africa believes local horses will be able to travel to many places around the world later this year although the quarantine changes may not necessarily come in time to allow Horse of the Year Variety Club to run in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita in California on November 2.

The present two-year ban on South African horse exports to the European Union expires on June 23, assuming there is no outbreak of African Horse Sickness in the designated AHS controlled area in the meantime.

However the EU still has to be persuaded to permit imports.

Many countries, notably Britain, are wary following the deaths of large numbers of sheep and cattle early last year from a virus carried by much the same midge as AHS.

RSA chief executive Peter Gibson said: “We are expecting an EU inspection team to arrive in May and they will then deliberate on their findings for a period of time.

“It’s a bureaucratic process and so we can’t really influence the speed of it but, assuming they are satisfied, they will make a recommendation to the EU parliament which is then expected to change the legislation to allow direct imports from the AHS Free Zone as they have done in the past.”

There will still be a 40-day pre-export quarantine in South Africa but horses will then be free to race post-arrival in the EU.

There is also a call for greater emphasis on persuading the Americans to relax their insistence on the present 60-day lockdown which permits almost no exercise.

Breeders’ Cup authorities are keen to attract South African horses and could be expected to support the push for a relaxing of the regime.

Gibson said: “Persuading the authorities there to accept a reduction to 14 days, is very much part of our strategy.

“Our opportunity there only really became possible last year when the World Organisation for Animal Health AHS code was changed, and because of the real time PCR test which enables AHS to be identified within hours.

“But the American situation is not straightforward. There is a lot of red tape involved and the PCR test is not yet validated in their eyes.

"This is something we are working towards, and we have to go through a process of lobbying for a change in the quarantine laws.”