The Turnbull government removed jockeys, horse trainers and horse racing officials from the 457 temporary visa occupation list as part of a broader overhaul announced in April this year. The changes come into effect on July 1. 

The overhaul came as a shock to the racing industry, which is heavily reliant on riders from overseas, Darren Weir Racing business manager Nick Leonard said. 

Industry representatives have previously claimed the changes would bring the industry “to its knees”.

At any one time more than half the stables’ trackwork riders are from overseas, a national trend brought about by a shortage of skilled Australian track riders.

“No one had any warning it was coming. We had three people in the system we had ready to apply who were all in limbo.” Mr Leonard said the stables constantly sought Australian employees but needed to make up numbers with overseas recruits due to an acute domestic skills shortage. 

“We rely very heavily on overseas track riders. They’ve been a big part of our success in the last decade  and a lot of those people have gone on to become highly regarded Australian citizens,” he said.

“Some people say we’re using cheap overseas labor - in actual fact we pay them as much if not more to attract them over here.”

Ballarat Turf Club chief executive Lachlan McKenzie said the changes were the “biggest challenge presently facing the industry”. 

“We’ve been on a rapid expansion over the last four to five years and there’s no question that one of the key concerns of trainers is the prospect of finding labour,” Mr McKenzie said. 

“Since this has happened we’ve still got plenty of people wanting to move to Ballarat but it will certainly impact the decision some people would make.” 

A federal government spokesperson said the government had been working with the racing industry.