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

[triplev123]

TBM wrote [You want people to support Australian breeders right? Well produce the right kind of product, one that will be attractive enough for OWNERS to fork out the dollars for.
It happens, it happens every day. You tell me why Australian breeders cannot compete?]

Triple says - Apparently 'compete' is a euphemism for breeding & raising paddocks full of largely un-staked horses until they're 4yo+ C1's then selling them for 10k a piece or less. Not sure that I could 'compete' in such a fashion TBM.
The only competition that approach is sure to engender is competition for a position in the soup kitchen line outside the Matthew Talbot Hostel.

[triplev123]

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.

Well mate, you know full well where that head buried right up their own backsides attitude is coming from. You did your time there like I did only I, after having left in absolute disgust once, was stupid enough to go back for a 2nd term only to vacate again soon after wondering why in the Hell I'd ever even considered it in the first place. I wouldn't have any big issues with a modest annual charge of some sort. Most reasonable people wouldn't. You are not dealing with reasonable people however. Cast you mind back if it is not too painful to do so. See what I mean?

[gutwagon]

Going by the figures in that report less than 20% of horses racing in Aus are from Nz. So increasing the import fee will effect less than 20% of owners. And I dont think the increase will stop many people from buying from NZ. With the Aus dollar so high Aus buyers have never had it so good.

[triplev123]

Hey TBM,

You might have missed my previous post to this effect.
Just wondering, have you come up with any ideas as far as alternative sources of funding is concerned?
You've aimed up on this 5k proposal and that's fine, it's there for discussion, and as far as your particular racing model is concerned I can completely understand why you're doing it. What I'm interested in however is alternatives.
If you really want to knock this 5k fee over then you've got to offer them other avenues to explore. Any ideas what they might be?

Incidentally, the way you've been painting this...as though the Breeders will skate...is not correct. If you also consider the $$$ that are expected to be raised by new/increased fees and specifically which will directly and indirectly fall upon the breeder to pay...then there's some $900,000+ that's being proposed to come out of their end.

On a personal note, here's a bit of a case study.
A basic calculation of what we can expect to pay by way of those proposed changes will see the cost of PTIF service fees from NZ based sires go up by around $400-$500-$600 per mare across the board & depending on the fee of the sire. It is unlikely Studs will absorb any of those costs. Breeder pays.
If those services then result in colt foals...it will serve to all but double registration costs.
Each & every colt foal resulting from imported chilled or frozen semen will cost his proud breeder approximately $725 more.
Essentially, breed half a dozen mares to chilled semen shipped from NZ, get all colts and what do you reckon the damage is for us? I make it to be somewhere around $4,350 and I think that's conservative. Food for thought.

[The Big Mile]

Going by the figures in that report less than 20% of horses racing in Aus are from Nz. So increasing the import fee will effect less than 20% of owners. And I dont think the increase will stop many people from buying from NZ. With the Aus dollar so high Aus buyers have never had it so good.

Only 20% of owners? Tell me something gutwagon, do you think the sport has trouble attracting and retaining owners?

If ownership ranks were deep and pockets deep, then a lot of troubles breeders face would not be happening.

Unfortunately it is not the case.

[gutwagon]

Tbm these reports never please everybody, thats why they release them for discusion. If only one recomendation upsets you then they haven't done to bad. It's not perfect and maybe needs some fine tuning. The increase in import fees doesn't effect me or 80 odd % of other breeders/owners.If I did import horses I would be mad about the increase too. Maybe they could take some prizemoney away from the big races to fund this, or stop increasing the prizes in the big races. But this will upset some owners and breeders too.
There are a lot of good ideas in this report, I was very pleased when I read it. When I filled in the survey I didn't think anything good would come of it.
Who else on here bothered to fill it in ? I hope you all did.

[The Big Mile]

Hey TBM,

You might have missed my previous post to this effect.
Just wondering, have you come up with any ideas as far as alternative sources of funding is concerned?
You've aimed up on this 5k proposal and that's fine, it's there for discussion, and as far as your particular racing model is concerned I can completely understand why you're doing it. What I'm interested in however is alternatives.
If you really want to knock this 5k fee over then you've got to offer them other avenues to explore. Any ideas what they might be?

Incidentally, the way you've been painting this...as though the Breeders will skate...is not correct. If you also consider the $$$ that are expected to be raised by new/increased fees and specifically which will directly and indirectly fall upon the breeder to pay...then there's some $900,000+ that's being proposed to come out of their end.

On a personal note, here's a bit of a case study.
A basic calculation of what we can expect to pay by way of those proposed changes will see the cost of PTIF service fees from NZ based sires go up by around $400-$500-$600 per mare across the board & depending on the fee of the sire. It is unlikely Studs will absorb any of those costs. Breeder pays.
If those services then result in colt foals...it will serve to all but double registration costs.
Each & every colt foal resulting from imported chilled or frozen semen will cost his proud breeder approximately $725 more.
Essentially, breed half a dozen mares to chilled semen shipped from NZ, get all colts and what do you reckon the damage is for us? I make it to be somewhere around $4,350 and I think that's conservative. Food for thought.

It will be done. Again I don't want to appear a hippocrit - the NBCS has plenty of merit (might need a tweak here and there) but I fully support it. I fully understand the need to fund it and the avenues of funding. $5k as an import fee - if there needs to be one - needs to be reduced. It is simply too high.

I do personally feel objectionable to the belief that a certain group should be slugged - especially when this group are not necessarily earning / winning / making more than any other group. I am a strong believer in the spreading of a fee for minimal impact across a broad spectrum of the sport.

We will see what happens.

[smithy]

Going by the figures in that report less than 20% of horses racing in Aus are from Nz. So increasing the import fee will effect less than 20% of owners. And I dont think the increase will stop many people from buying from NZ. With the Aus dollar so high Aus buyers have never had it so good.

again a misrepresented stat.. that 20% of owners probably contribute 50% of all owners money.. look at the horses they are buying lanercost NZ imthemightyquinn NZ smoken up NZ

[smithy]

if your right about that cost triple v i can't see how any breeder could possibly support this part of the paper

[The Big Mile]

Another point worth considering: Don't you think that if similar horses could be purchased domestically they would be?

I am sure many, if not all purchasers of horses from NZ would actually like to spend the $5k it costs for transport and associated costs to go straight into 4 legs, a head and a tail.

Problem is many horses for sale in Oz actually lack one of those 3 essentials.