Indigenous' Japan Cup mission was on the verge of being called off yesterday after trainer Ivan Allan hit out at the 'disgraceful' treatment of the veteran's feeding requirements and called for the Japanese government to 'investigate this fiasco'.
Allan said he had advised Indigenous' owner, Louis Pang Yuen-hing, to withdraw the horse from the Group One race on Sunday week after Japan's Department of Agriculture confiscated the routine feed that accompanied Indigenous on his trip to Tokyo on Tuesday. The trainer said the department's decision had been made despite compliance with Japan's requirement to send feed samples for testing ahead of the trip.
'I am disgusted that Japan's Department of Agriculture has confiscated the feed without warning,' Allan said. 'It is disgraceful that the Japanese authorities did not alert us of their intention to disallow the feed to be imported into Japan prior to the shipment of Indigenous. In previous years, Japan was highly regarded as a country with the best management and systems.
'However, some officials in the Department of Agriculture have missed out and, hopefully, the Minister of Agriculture will investigate this fiasco.'
Indigenous, Hong Kong's most-travelled and highest-earning horse, finished second in the Japan Cup in 1999 and returned last year to take seventh place. But Allan said the horse would be unable to perform to his best in the 2,220-metre race without his normal feeding routine.
'Indigenous has always been selective about his feed and this disruption of his diet will seriously affect his chances. He is almost a 10-year-old and surely does not deserve to compete on a change of diet 10 days before the race,' Allan said. 'More important, a run in the Japan Cup with his metabolism diminished due to a change of feed will seriously affect his recovery period and disrupt his chances in the Hong Kong International Vase three weeks later.
