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Alycone/Adam Fairley suggested this in another thread. Quote:
I believe we could consider changing our racing season to a calendar year.
With the Inter Dominion in early December we could run the Breeders Crown Final potentially the week before XMAS with all state sires races in October/November.
This way we could attract crowds to the track in the warmer months of the year.
Thoughts
My initial thought is that it would be weird having a racing season that doesn't align with the breeding season and the horses birthday (assuming that Adam is not also proposing a change to that). With the major races over in December what would our juvenile horses do for the rest of the season?
December is way too early for 2YO races under the present breeding season arrangements.
If he is also advocating that the breeding season be changed to the calendar year, a gamebreaker would be the barrier that would create for dual hemisphere stallions.
about 25 years ago the Standardbred breeding season was changed from a commencement date of August 1 to September 1, the main reason being the fertility rates in mares and in many places August foals were being born in the snow. Significant research was done with regards to the overall performances of foal born in August Vs those later as many people were a bit "hung up" about the advantages of an early foal for juvenile racing. The research showed that foals born later actually had better lifetime stats than August foals.
The change was implemented, our cousins in the thoroughbred world were invited to come along but declined and I'm pretty sure most people would agree that the change was indeed a wise move.
To move the breeding season to January 1 would bring difficulties like foals being born on 40 degree days meaning we had gone from one extreme to another, so personnally I think a hell of a lot of research would be required and where would that research come from with so few foals born January 1 onwards.
Foals being born in January is one thing keep in mind we now have a breeding season where foals are born from September through to Jan/feb, so about 5 months, if you had foaling starting January then foaling would end say May?
If you left the breeding season as is and changed the racing season then I think racing 2 and 3yo's for big stakes before December 30 is short changing the horses and their connections. An alternative would be extend their "year" to the following December and then you have 3yo's racing for 2yo classics and 4yo's racing for 3yo classics and that, to me would be open to ridicule.
Not saying we should just keep on doing what we always have and an adjustment that assists our game in any sustainable way would be welcome, just highlighting some of the things people need to take into consideration.
Cheers,
Dan
Interesting discussion. if the breeding season were left as is would you not think there may be some creep where the majority of foals are born later in October and November. Not that I have bred that many foals, but to date I only have one that was born in September, all the others have been born later in the year, so, if their first year happened the following December many would only be 14 months or thereabouts old. The situation now is that many 3yo's in the early season are actually still only 2; and it doesn't seem to be a problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
It would be interesting to see if it could work because the feature races calendar is very lob sided at the moment
Regards
Mark
Leave it how it is. If you change to calender year you will have little or no juvenile racing. There is more than enough young one's busted now by trying to get them going fast early before they are mature enough go to calender year and you will have nothing to race later on.
Much interesting discussion on radio RSN this morning around noon, with involvement from trainer and breeder, as well as a prominent Kiwi:
Changing the harness racing season to the calendar year....start on January 1 , the same as in North America.
Many positives mentioned, including enabling 2yos to race for 12 months compared to 7 or 8 ( first Aussie 2yo was in November I think).
Being able to stagger the key races across the states and NZ in a better way seemed to meet with approval .
Looks to have been discussed widely but recently.
Thoughts?
Hi Noel, I merged the above as I knew there had been some previous discussion.
Once upon a time NSW Racing Manager Adam Fairley used to communicate on this board - strangely (IMO) he deleted everything
We are lucky to have Vic Communications and Media Manager, Cody Winnel, as a poster nowadays
It's very interesting Noel, I can't find that debate on RSN, Would it be possible to put the link up on the Forum please. Changing the racing season does seem to have some merit, The spacing of the races would be fantastic but I really think that we need to leave the breeding season as it is, As Trevor mentioned, We still must have the Nth American stallions available and January/Febuary is far to hot for new born foals.Quote:
Originally Posted by Adaptor
Richard
It was on Nadia Horn's program yesterday morning on RSN ( Sept 22) around 11:45 with Cody Winnell, and Jason Bonnington from HRV. They had Shannon NOxon Breeder Assn, Lance Justice Trainers, and also Cran Dalgety on from NZ and I think LAnc
Thanks Noel, Very interesting discussion and quite a few positives but as the Panel stated, We would need all of the states and NZ to get on board.