Duckworth's diary gives insight on Zoustar's world crossing
Travelling with him was Englishman Charlie Duckworth, who became a member of Sydney trainer Chris Waller's team after winning the Alex Scott Assistant Trainers' Travel Scholarship. Duckworth is now based at the stables of Lambourn trainer Charlie Hills and is keeping his boss informed of Zoustar's daily progress towards the meeting at Royal Ascot - where he will race for a partnership involving Qatar Bloodstock, Widden Stud and Woodside Park.
In his first report for Waller Weekly News, Duckworth writes: "The mammoth trip to England began at 15:00 Australian time on Sunday. We arrived at the airport an hour later to catch a flight at 18:00 with Zoustar already dressed in his compression suit. A compression suit promotes circulation - it was famously worn by Black Caviar when she flew to run at Royal Ascot. Joining Zoustar on the flight was an Australian dressage horse called SS Dante who is competing in the World Championships in Germany at the start of August.
"The dressage horse was the first to load into a crate and then they saw the mighty Zoustar come down the float ramp and so they asked me straight away - "Is that a thoroughbred?" in a disapproving manner, as thoroughbreds have a reputation for being live wires. Both horses loaded impeccably and within seconds there was some banging and stamping coming from within the crate and not to my surprise, it was not Zoustar!
"In the crate the horses were tied up and have hay, water and anything else they could possibly need. The air conditioning was set to 15 degrees Celsius.
"When we landed in Hong Kong the horses remained on the plane, while more cargo was loaded not leaving a spare inch. We then flew to Dubai, another 8 hours in the air and the horses remained calm and ate and drank plenty and Zoustar's temperature stayed stable. Unfortunately, due to a mix up of some 'special' cargo, our flight was delayed and we were stuck on the tarmac for close to six hours in 40 degrees - thank goodness for air conditioning!
"Eventually we took off, and it was only six hours to Frankfurt and all went very smoothly. Upon arrival there, we were promptly unloaded from the plane which Zoustar took in his stride peering out of the window. We then had to go through the usual procedure at customs which is where the dressage horse left us, before heading on to a veterinary clinic just outside Frankfurt.
"When we arrived at the Clinic it was about 23:00 on Monday night, but the vet commented she had never seen a horse so bright eyed and bushy tailed after such a long trip. He had a 5 litre saline drip to help him overcome the strenuous journey and then he had a decent walk to stretch his legs finishing up at about 01:00. I gave Zoustar his breakfast at about 06:00 and he had eaten every crumb of his midnight feast, then at 14:00 we were picked up by a float, half of which had been converted into a portable stable, so he could eat, drink and walk around. We then travelled through Germany, Holland and Belgium and finally arrived at Calais to get on the Eurotunnel to England."