The ASBP Report: How can they be serious? Bad news for harness owners

[The Big Mile]

First time poster on this forum, I see that there is a topic on this report under 'Breeding' but as this affects all aspects of the industry potentially, I feel it is right to discuss one particular part of their recommendations here.

The ASBP should be commended for their efforts to address problems with breeding and exploring avenues on how to sort these issues out.

They recommend a National Breeding Credit Scheme for mares which it is anticipated will stimulate the greater participation in racing by those fillies and mares, by funding F&M racing, giving credits to horses themselves so as to be used as credits against future stallion fees against that mare and so forth.

This scheme requires funding and one area that the Panel suggested funding the $2.1 million per year that was needed was by the introduction of IMPORT FEES on horses that are bought from overseas to come here to race.

The suggested fee was $1500 for 4yo and up mares, and $5000 for C&G.

In NSW this fee stands at $150 and $500 respectively and the suggestion is to increase 10 fold to fund this breeding intiative.

I am really disappointed that this has been recommended as the major source of funding for the Breeding Proposal. There seems very little consideration given to owners, in fact a small percentage of owners whom source their racing product from overseas.

Can anyone tell me how creating such a disincentive for ownership can be good for the sport? Harness Racing struggles enough as it is to attract owners and let alone retain them. One very attractive way to do this is to source horses from NZ because you can get them here and race them soon after. Australians don't sell and are habitual overpricers.

According to the figures 13% of racing horses are from NZ. If you create barriers or make the sourcing of horses from NZ not as attractive, then there will be less horses coming over here to race.

I saw in the other thread some suggestions that the NZ breeders will absorb the costs.

What rubbish.

At the end of the day a $5000 impost in importing horses from NZ will equate to a greater cost to owners no matter which way you look at it.

A $20k horse now based on its relative ability will not be $20k in the future with the $5000 import fee. There will be other horses for sale at that price, but they will generally be ones of lesser ability, and therefore the import fee would encourage the importation of lesser grade animals as a result.

I find this recommendation to be completely at odds with what we are trying to achieve in the wider industry. By all means the breeders need supporting but breeders themselves are to blame for a lot of their woes with the ordinary stock they bring to sales. How can they expect to generate a return when they produce a product that people swat away? Any look at a sales catalogue shows it is often a great reference point for ordinarily bred horses, that any sensible yearling purchaser will simply shun.

And another consideration too: Breeders complain about the rising costs making it harder to attain or reach break even. Do the Breeders think that increased feed costs, fuel costs, general costs are only felt by Breeders?

No they are not. Everyone in the industry feels these costs. One cost they might be relatively alone in feeling is the cost of servicing mares. Breeders themselves create the demand that determines the pricing of stallions. Breeders want greater access to better stallions and the NBCS should give them that over time, but as we have seen by Alabar and so forth, service fees are coming down this season. They realise you need it to make it more economical to prudce good quality racing stock.

There is plenty more to debate on this topic, but this ridiculous IMPORT FEE needs to be stopped dead in its tracks.

[triplev123]

My most sincere & most humble apologies TBM. I don't know what I thinking.
Posting a link to the HRA Breeding Panel report under the Breeding Section of this Forum and then commenting on same & in same...it was indeed very remiss of me to have done so.

Btw TBM...I was wondering how long it would take you to show up here mate.
You're getting slow in your old age. Trust you and yours are well. Happy to go back & forth here but if you prefer, ring me if you want to discuss over the phone or over a few coldies.

[smithy]

i agree with whoever posted this - you can't support breeders at the expense of owners - they are one and the same

can someone explain (as it was ignored on the other thread) why the import fee is only on colts? i thought they were trying to increase the value of aussie horses particularly fillies - wouldnt this make them less valuable as fillies from nz will be swimming over in 100's

[triplev123]

G'day Smithy,

There seems to be a fair amount of confusion here.
The Panel that produced this paper was not charged with addressing any factors other than those which have Australian Breeding Industy implications.
They were wholly and solely charged with the addressing of Australian Breeding Industry issues and with suggesting ways in which the lot of the Australian Breeding Industry could be augmented. No more, no less.
This was NOT in any way intended to be a wide ranging paper addressing the Australian Harness Racing Industry as a whole & a reading of the HRA Panel's brief confirms same.

Did you send in your own submission with your ideas for their consideration?
They received somewhere in the vicinity of 1500 replies I believe.

On the proposed charges, it's not only on colts, geldings & entires (5k) each. It is also on fillies, only not quite as much (1.5k).

[The Big Mile]

G'day Smithy,

There seems to be a fair amount of confusion here.
The Panel that produced this paper was not charged with addressing any factors other than those which have Australian Breeding Industy implications.
They were wholly and solely charged with the addressing of Australian Breeding Industry issues and with suggesting ways in which the lot of the Australian Breeding Industry could be augmented. No more, no less.
This was NOT in any way intended to be a wide ranging paper addressing the Australian Harness Racing Industry as a whole & a reading of the HRA Panel's brief confirms same.

Did you send in your own submission with your ideas for their consideration?
They received somewhere in the vicinity of 1500 replies I believe.

On the proposed charges, it's not only on colts, geldings & entires (5k) each. It is also on fillies, only not quite as much (1.5k).

Hello Mr Triple V. Why then if the above was true would those in charge of trying to address these issues push forward ideas that have implications for the wider industry?

Coming up with a suggestion 'just because it suits the breeding industry' without contemplating the wider ramifications is ignorant at best. In fact it is downright dismal. I certainly would have expected more on that front than they have presented.

Smithy said 'you can't support breeders at the expense of owners'. How true.

Incidently I should point out I am a small time breeder and an owner whom in the last 12 months has bought yearlings, racing horses domestically and from abroad.

To make a suggestion as an import fee is creating a barrier to entry to the market that has the potential to discourage potential ownership. It is the last thing harness racing needs as it struggles to compete with other entertainment mediums.

[Don Corleone]

Hi Big Mile,
Totally, 100% agree with you. I am a small time breeder/owner/trainer/buyer. Over the past 20 odd years 75% of my horses have gone to you guys in OZ and it gives me great pleasure when my horses arrive and have success there. I have sold horses from 6k to 160k. Most of what I buy and train are mares and are in the 10k to 30k price range. I might consider absorbing the cost in a 100k sale but wouldn't consider it on anything less.

[triplev123]

Hello Mr Triple V. Why then if the above was true would those in charge of trying to address these issues push forward ideas that have implications for the wider industry?
Coming up with a suggestion 'just because it suits the breeding industry' without contemplating the wider ramifications is ignorant at best. In fact it is downright dismal. I certainly would have expected more on that front than they have presented.
[VVV] Hello Mr. TBM. Rightly or wrongly they were not free to consider any of the wider ramifications.
Perhaps there was also a certain level of detachment from the whole 'put a syndicate together, buy going stock in NZ & race in Oz' angle in there too...one that was either pre-existing or that was otherwise thrust upon the Panel by way of their initial brief. I can only speculate.

Smithy said 'you can't support breeders at the expense of owners'. How true.
[VVV] I think that is particularly relevant because, as the Panel's own paper suggests, these groups are effectively one and the same. It is also relevant from the point of view that so many have subsequently joined the ranks of the Breeders by way of first enjoying their involvement with a racehorse.

Incidently I should point out I am a small time breeder and an owner whom in the last 12 months has bought yearlings, racing horses domestically and from abroad.
[VVV] Indeed you are and this is without question.

To make a suggestion as an import fee is creating a barrier to entry to the market that has the potential to discourage potential ownership. It is the last thing harness racing needs as it struggles to compete with other entertainment mediums.
[VVV] The potential owner entry point aspect carries a great deal of weight I have to agree. If there are possible alternative sources of funding, which I've no doubt you've investigated, then please, by all means they should be considered.
There is nothing to stop you from sending in a submission to HRA, one which deals with that aspect of the Panel's report/paper.
Having spoken to Andrew Kelly a few times both before and since this whole thing came to pass I'm sure he'd be only too happy to hear from yourself and anyone else. As our mate Mightymo has said a number of times...put it in writing and send it in.

Keep well,

[The Big Mile]

Triple V the problem here is that the HRA CEO is actually secretary of the Panel and that is the panel whom have made a FINAL RECOMMENDATION to go to HRA. So essentially Mr Kelly knows what he is going to get.

There are many avenues for revenue collection and it amuses me to hear that avenues where Breeders will be asked to support themselves (like broodmare registration) has been shot down in flames as a massive no, no.

Lets slug owners, lets make them pay. But oh no, anyone associated with the ACTUAL breeding side cannot.

This kind of ignorance I simply cannot cop.

[gutwagon]

The point of this report was to help Australian breeding. Buying horses from NZ does not help our breeding in any way. As a small time breeder and owner I support every part of this report. Persoally I think that there are too many NZ horses here, I would make the import fees even higher. With the Aus dollar so high we will be flooded with them even more.
One part of the report that I found amazing was the fact that 50% of foals are female yet only 6.6% of races are for fillys or mares. This needs to be lifted to 20 or 30% asap.

[smithy]

import substitution does not work!

the import fee is clearly aimed at helping the fillies going through the sales, but the statistics show most people don't sell - someone make some sense of that for me