Chilean Triple Crown winner to race in the UK - how we were involved

Fortino, the first winner of the Chilean Triple Crown (Guineas, Derby and St Leger) since 1991, will make history if he lines up in the Group 3 September Stakes at Kempton this Saturday.??

Purchased privately by Zhang Yushueng, who owns and runs Yulong Stables, Fortino is stabled in Newmarket with John and Thady Gosden and is set to make his UK debut this weekend.?What you might not know is that the Weatherbys team is very much involved in the administration of foreign horses, like Fortino, that allow the horse to make it to the track. ?

There is a lot involved in the importing of most horses from outside Europe, and our stud book team handles the finer details of importing and exporting these horses. The team work closely with the shipping company, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and the connections of the horse within the UK to accurately ensure everything about the horse meets our high standards.?

The team become involved with the process when the shipping company transporting the horse let our team know to expect a new arrival. In some cases, this process can take a few months – the onus is on the shipping company to ensure that the horse is the right horse, well enough to travel and all the paperwork is in order for a successful import. ?

One of our customer service administrators, Izzy Marvell, said: “With Fortino, the process from start to finish to import and name the horse in the UK took roughly three months, due to Chile not being a regular country that we import horses from.”?

“We have to add onto our system the relevant details needed, including the microchip and passport number, along with the pedigree, previous racing records and vaccination records.

The markings have to be checked against new markings taken by the vet in this country to confirm that we are importing the right horses, and make sure?the vaccinations are checked by one of the BHA vets to make sure that they are happy with the course of vaccinations that the horse has had. Once all the relevant checks have been completed and every box is ticked, the horse is good to go and ready to race!”?