Olympic Horses Begin Journey

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30534, 1 September 1964, Page 19

Olympic Horses Begin Journey

(N.Z. Press Association) GISBORNE, August 31. New Zealand’s equest* rian team’s horses for the Tokyo Olympic Games, Saba Sam, Tide, Syndicate and El Dorado, left this morning by truck for the start of their 5000-mile journey to Japan. The horses will be loaded into the Port Montreal, which will sail on Thursday. I The mounts will be accom-

panied by a groom and a veterinary surgeon, and two members of the team, Messrs A. White and C. Matthews. The rearranged schedule of the Port Montreal reduced by almost a fortnight the preparation time that the team would have had in Japan. The manager of the team, Mr B. Rutherford, of Canterbury, who was to have accompanied the horses, will now fly to Japan on September 8. Mr Rutherford will have to

arrange to get the horses to their Olympic Games quarters from the port of Osaka. Osaka is not classified as a port of entry for Olympic Games competitors, who arrive at either Tokyo or Yokohama. Mr Rutherford’s problem is to make arrangements for the horses to get from Osaka to Tokyo. If the horses are landed at Osaka they will have to spend a period of quarantine at Kobe, before being

transported about 360 miles by road or rail to Tokyo. Mr Rutherford will see if he can get the horses taken to Tokyo by a coastal boat. Mr Rutherford said that they were allowed to take certified New Zealand oats, hay and bran, and that they had enough with them to last until well after the competition was over. The New Zealand feed would be supplemented by the feed supplied in Japan to the competitors.