www.harness.org.au/hra/annual/public/stats/regn_all.pdf
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http://infohorse.hrnz.co.nz/dochr/hrnz/annualreport/annual2012.pdf
page 26 has the breeding industry stats
A Look at the Annual Foal Crop- These are the North America Foal crop numbers published in the Harness Racing Update.
Foal Year Foals
1987 22,911
1988 22,183
1989 20,894
1990 19,858
1991 18,346
1992 17,001
1993 16,225
1994 15,062
1995 14,458
1997 14,249
1998 14,001
1999 13,717
2000 14,475
2001 14,683
2002 15,031
2003 15,197
2004 15,256
2005 14,909
2006 14,106
2007 13,149
2008 12,228
2009 11,452
2010 10,579
2011 9,859
2012 8630*
*Estimate
Roger I think there might be a bit more then just economic fluctuations happening.
VVV where is that money tree that will fix everything?
I could be wrong, but it looks like the numbers of sires and live foals have been in decline since the mid-to-late 1980s.
For someone who is relatively youngish I returned to the sport i LOVED but the problem is simple, PRIZEMONEY.
I race both gallopers and Pacers and I cannot believe the fees trainers charge, I know they cannot help it due to the costs and this is where the administraters need to get it right.
My gallopers pay for pacers and believe it or not I pay $40 a day plus extras in the gallops and minimum prizemoney is $8500 (country),much more provincial. I pay nearly that in Harness racing where the majority of races are either $3000 or $5000. if you want to compare the city rates to prizemoney then there is no comparison.
I have invested heavily in pacers and to run it straight it would be run at a loss. There has to be incentives for owners and also trainers and drivers, maybe Menangle's prizemoney is too much maybe spread it around. I feel absolutely sorry for breeders as I can buy yearlings for less than service fee, that too happens in the other industry but I find you could lease a galloper much more easier than a pacer.
Finally, maybe making it harder to buy horses from NZ (My mother is a kiwi) so it's not personal but it means another import is taking the place of a local horse foaling and starting it's career. I remember many years ago they use to have sires stakes races and attached to that were owner/breeder bonuses, does that still happen in Provincial/Country racing?
Todays Bulli at Menangle meeting, attractive in the fact there are a couple of up and comers going around but woeful numbers. One race has 9 going around, 2 have 8, 3 have 7 and 2 have 6. One $3K, one $6K, the rest are worth $10K. If the powers that be can't see a problem with that then we are r*#ted. As a betting proposition this meeting is a basket case!