Bushfires are again threatening the $25 million property of prominent trainer David Hayes at Euroa in north eastern Victoria.
Hayes and his staff at Lindsay Park spent most of Tuesday night and the early hours of the morning moving horses away from the threat.
But a wind change on Wednesday afternoon has renewed the danger.
“The wind has changed and they are on high alert back up there at the farm and all hands are on deck,” Hayes’ Melbourne stable foreman Bruno Rouge-Serret said.
“The horses are all being evacuated off that side of the farm unfortunately on to the side of the farm that got a bit burnt last night.
“They are four hours ahead of where they were last night, so they are ahead of the ball game.”
Hayes told Melbourne’s radio RSN on Wednesday morning around 30 per cent of the property had been affected overnight.
“We basically went into save the horses mode and let them run free for a few hours and once the fire passed we rounded them all up and remarkably there were no injuries and the fire plan worked,” Hayes said.
“None of the real infrastructure was damaged. The stables were well protected but the outlying paddocks and fences were lost.
“The horses went into herd mentality and were very sensible.
“What we were doing was catching one and leading it behind a truck and the rest of the horses would follow behind.
“It was quite amazing, they knew they were in strife and were looking for help.”
