That is what The Age is reporting (yes The Age - doubt it will be in the Melbourne paper)
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/raci...XY9NkKnv1yOA08
Announcement supposed to be tomorrow
Printable View
That is what The Age is reporting (yes The Age - doubt it will be in the Melbourne paper)
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/raci...XY9NkKnv1yOA08
Announcement supposed to be tomorrow
Announcement
https://www.harness.org.au/media-roo...?news_id=52362
The race is restricted to Australian-born three and four-year-old pacers.
I wonder how the NZers will feel about that
No mention of how HRA is going to fund the majority of the $2.1m prizemoney
Whether the purported stallion levy is legal could be a sticking point for the funding of a $2m prize pool
That is correct and if I recall the legality issue of HRA's ability to impose a levy was raised when HRA proposed one a year or so back. HRA is not the government. It is also bound to abide by the free trade agreements with NZ and USA. There are several minefields for HRA to negotiate with its oversized boots before this race goes ahead. It is akin to shopping centres issuing parking fines when they have no legal status to do so. Challenge them and watch them fold.
Another case of the autocratic HRA failing again to get the industry It represents on board and steam-rolling ahead. Hopefully not straight over a cliff.
For those who have not read it elsewhere, HRA's new stallion registration structure will include a 15% levy on the advertised service fee of frozen semen for pacing stallions and an 8% levy on the service fee of shuttle pacing stallions. Supposedly the means of funding much of The Eureka
Why is it that Trotters get a free pass? (Because the race is not for trotters?) Is everybody on board with all the measures in the last decade to increase the % of trotting races? What is the economic benefit to the industry especially since the French no longer take our product? Is this sound policy or just an ideology?
It's been fairly quiet on here in regards to this race. When I first heard about it I thought that it may attract horses from the US and Canada, I thought that would be interesting. Then I noticed it was for Aus bred horses only and the breeding industry would be putting up half the money against their wishes in most cases.
As it will be ran in NSW it fails to capture my attention and I am not happy to be supplying some of the funds. It seems as many are saying it will make the rich richer and the poor poorer.
The only ways for them to get my support would be to have the race move from state to state each year as each state will be contributing.
And the main thing is that The $ contributed by breeders should be paid to the breeders of the horse not the slot owner. So the slot owners should only get paid half the purse and the breeder of the horse should get the other half, all the way to last place. That's the only way I can see this race being any incentive to breed horses.
Thanks for posting Rick. It is often quiet on here - we need more people posting (I don't want to feeling like I have to)
I think I read somewhere that it will rotate but Menangle have it for the first 3yrs (I could be wrong about that)
It might encourage people to support Australian horses/sires/sales but its single advantage as far as I see it, is that if you have a top class 4yo you will have a race where you will not have to compete with the NZers. As for the 3yo's - how often is a 3yo going to be able to beat a top class 4yo
I think most of the time the Slot holder is only going to get half anyway as they probably have to do 50/50 with the owner of a good horse. Say that first prizemoney is $1m and the slot owner keeps $500k, that means he is getting odds of 4/1 on his $100k pa slot. Not great value in a 10 horse race where a 100% book on it in an even race would see them get 9/1. If they pay right down to 10th - let's say $50k, half to the slot owner, that means he is really only risking $75k to win $500k or odds of 11/2
While I agree that it would be nice for the breeder to get something, they are supposed to be getting something by way of increased demand/prices? as a result of the mere existence of the race and if they don't sell their foal, potentially more. Overall IMO it is just a bit of a gimmick and only one more race - if you have a top 3yo there are a lot of derbies etc for you to chase
OPEN LETTER TO HARNESS RACING INDUSTRY GROUP FROM ASBA
AUSTRALIAN STANDARDBRED BREEDER’S ASSOCIATION INC.
ABN: 13 647 822 099
Dear Editor,
We need to talk about Australia’s first harness Slot Race, recently announced by Harness Racing Australia (HRA) as the TAB Eureka – at $2.1 million the world’s richest harness race. The race is limited to 10 elite “Australian born” (mare served in Australia, foal born in Australia) 3yo and 4yo performers.
First let us make it very clear that Australian Breeders and participants in general do not object to a harness Slot Race being run in Australia (or anywhere) for $2 million or any other amount. Many don’t see the point of having “the worlds richest race”, but are not opposed to those wanting to participate. They do universally expect that slot holders fund the race from which they reap benefit. This is not what is happening – two separate actions that will extract over $1.7 million per year from Australian breeders are being implemented.
Across all States of Australia there is a unanimous view of breeding bodies, based on their breeder responses, that the TAB Eureka, or any similarly proposed race, should not be funded by breeders through implementation of a tax or levy or tariff or call it what you will. The view in fact is well supported across the whole gambit of participants including owner organisations, who are aware it will most likely impact their prices and the quality of their purchases. Clubs also expect an impact from the reduced sponsorship they are likely to receive from Studs and stallion owners. Even studs who stand locally based sires expect a negative outcome – they need to attract owners to breed their mares to both resident and external stallions to make the business viable.
In the HRA release of 20 April 2022, reference if made to “Like thoroughbred racing’s hugely successful The Everest, The TAB Eureka will be a slot race”. There is no reference to the fact that Slot holders entirely pay for the stakes in The Everest, along with race sponsors who are attracted to the model. No breeder payments are involved. No coercion.
Also in the HRA release was the comment “Importantly for prospective slot buyers, the majority of the prize money will be funded by Harness Racing Australia.”
We seriously challenge and dispute the notion that the balance of the stakes (after Slot Holders have provided $1 million) is being provided by HRA. The money being provided by HRA is coming from a mix of mum and dad breeders, who just want to breed a nice horse that they can enjoy watching on the track, and commercial breeders who provide the yearling sale market with their produce. With the actions of HRA, everyone gets to pay more to play in the industry.
To start with, import fees paid for horses being imported to Australia by their owners (fundamentally introduced in 2013 to support the breeding industry in Australia, and until July 2021 distributed to states in approximate proportion to the number of horses imported into that state), are now being entirely retained by HRA. That’s approximately $800,000 that previously went to support breeding in each of the states, in the form of breeding incentives.
Then there is the just announced stallion levy. Ignoring the $500 registration fee per stallion per breeding season (most people would consider this reasonable), there is an additional 8% per live foal from pacing stallions not domiciled in Australia who provide either fresh or chilled semen. There is an additional 15% per live foal from pacing stallions not domiciled in Australia who provide frozen semen.
These are new charges to commence from September 2022, and payable by the stallion owner. Will he pass that fee on? In all likelihood – yes.
Breeders have already had to withstand the introduction of stallion book limits in Australia (not New Zealand, which retains no limit on books and no service fee levies or imposts), introduced in June 2020 after most stallions had commercial arrangements in place (in readiness for the stud season just over 2 months later), service fees set and mares being booked. Stallion owners were forced to compensate the following year with increased prices on breeders’ stallions of choice. Small breeders were finding it difficult to book their preferred stallion – not just because of the price increase but the choices were reduced by their first preference stallions being booked out very early.
On HRA’s own reckonings, $900,000 will be collected via the new pacing stallion registration fees, and it will affect nearly 50% of pacing foals in Australia. Therefore, just by withholding import fees (that would normally go into breeding incentives) and imposing a levy, $1.7 million is being taken annually by HRA from breeders, who need all the support they can get to encourage them to continue in this discretionary industry. Breeders need to produce competitive foals to be able to compete successfully with unfettered New Zealand imports, as well as the best performed horses that Australian commercial breeders can produce. There is nowhere to hide in Australian harness racing.
How can anyone really believe that staging the ‘world’s richest harness race’ will help the local industry, and somehow grow the pie? And what happens to the “income” if those shuttle/frozen stallions cannot be viably imported, or patronage drops due to increased fees?
For many of the conglomerates or groups that will be involved, paying the full amount for their slot ($200,000 instead of $100,000) is not an impost, so why has HRA decided to contribute half when in thoroughbred racing the slot holders pay the full amount and the “rush for slots” suggests there is no shortage of money. Many of the people taking an interest are “more than ready” to part with quite significant amounts for their other racing interests.
This race concept, as exciting as it may be locally, is about waiting for a ready-made elite level horse to present itself so that you can take a chance on earning a minimum of 45 percent of your money back in one race per year ($45,000 is the stakes for placing last). If all wagering platforms guaranteed this percentage of money back on every losing bet we would have a very attractive industry. The initial proposal also included a welfare component – a percentage was set aside to support animal welfare initiatives. That’s gone.
There can be no international flavour to the race. In the long run these are Australian based sires and dams. Adding salt to the wound, those potential slot holders involved with racing interests elsewhere can race for more than 5 times the money that harness can offer, almost every day of the week. There is no compelling reason to stay involved in racing or breeding, outside of this race. If you were from North America, you might like what you see and buy it, hence any advantage of breeding such a horse is lost to the Australian market, and that horse, just like Lazarus, becomes a shuttle stallion with an applicable additional cost of service.
Alternative funding methods were put forward, including those that would have raised $1 million without costing more than $100 per racing animal per season – spreading the money evenly across the entire industry in a painless way. All alternatives were rejected by HRA in preference to targeting stallions in particular, and by inference, breeders.
We want slot holders to be aware that Australian breeders are actually paying for your slot. If you happen to be successful, we would like you to consider paying back the people who have funded your stakes. Or talk to HRA and tell them this is not the way forward.
We all want to advance Australian harness racing. We have made generational improvements in a very short time and do have world class horses, male and female. We do not want to recede to where we have come from by reducing our access to the best available stallions at various price points – colonial, southern hemisphere or northern hemisphere. This defies the objective of continuous improvement in breeding. Breeders are held responsible for the results of their breeding decisions. They should not be taxed to the point where their choices for their mare on their budget are reduced.
We hope that the stud farms from which the stallions (hopefully continue to) journey are aware that we did not ask to be part of this race by compulsorily funding the major component. Can we restructure service fees to represent the actual component, given that there are significant maintenance, agistment and transport costs associated with stallions? Perhaps. Can we negotiate lower service fees by reviewing how the various components of the business of stallions are priced? Perhaps. Can we find a way to encourage slot holders to pay the full amount, and HRA to rescind their levy? Probably not but we should, with your assistance, try.
Please find a way to work with breeders in Australia.
Australian Standardbred Breeders Association, on behalf of the breeding organisations of each state of Australia.
GARY NEWTON
SECRETARY ASBA
28TH APRIL 2022
Playing devil’s advocate here, let’s run with the idea that the slot holder should pay $200k not $100k. Prizemoney for First is $1m so the slot owner would be getting odds of 4/1 or $5. In a hypothetically even race of 10 chances that is no great shakes. If we say that he is only risking $155k because last gets $45k, you could argue he is getting 11/2 or $6.50
BUT this is assuming the slot holder owns the horse. If he is actually splitting with a horse owner the slot owner possibly only stands to get $500k for a $200k outlay – odds of 6/4 or $2.50. Or maybe around $2.80 working on $500k for $177k, assuming the slot splits last money, still terrible when a punter would want $10 odds in an even race. They cannot be in it for the prizemoney alone. The gallops might attract enough race publicity to make this a viable commercial decision but will harness?
In the HRA current scenario of the slot paying $100k pa for a shot at $1m but more likely $500k if splitting with an owner, the odds go back to 4/1 at least
(With HRA kicking in half the prizemoney, even if a non horse owner owned every slot he would only get his money back if he was doing a 50/50 arrangement with the horses' owners)
If the Stallion owners pass the increased levies onto breeders/owners it could be argued that they are putting up $1m and paying for the $1m in total that is going to owners not slot holders – you could say it is a bit like an upfront sustaining payment. I do get that it would be a sustaining payment that all pay without any choice
Would a business want a slot from a profit/loss perspective unless they could get good kickbacks from it - who would that be?!
I can only see the appeal to for a super strong/big owner, being both owner and slot holder they are paying $100k for a shot at $1m or probably more accurately $55k for a shot at $1m - they are good odds.
Win more than once every 18yrs with their own horse and they are ahead
Spot on Kev.
My 2c. On the basis of GDP and total prizemoney in the sport the Everest slots are relatively cheaper than the Eureka slots. Despite the Everest being relatively cheaper the slot holders are still all multi-millionaire/billionaires. How is a sport that is for the battlers going to keep up with that.
Offices of HRA after releasing the Eureka idea stolen from the Everest:
Breeder also gets $10k, So a Breeder/Owner with a slot is guaranteed $55k back and they give their breed a chance to win $1 million bucks.
So now all we need to do is
- breed a horse that is a champion and keep him (or buy one)
- he probably does need to be a he
- we need him to be an outstanding 4yo (cannot see too many 3yo's beating top 4yo's)
- and we need him to in form that week
Have I forgotten anything
- oh yeah I have to have $300k for a slot and supposedly convince them to sell me one (3yrs is a bit of a bummer as I am not likely to do it more than once in 3yrs so it is probably going to cost me 3 x $55k (or $45k) to do it. So I am getting $1M to $165k ie odds of 5/1
- I might need the money to buy a good horse if I cannot breed one
It's pretty simple really, as shown by the NZ race. First order of business is selling the slots. That should happen easily. Then, slot holders go searching for their preferred horse and seek to cut a deal with the owners. In NZ roughly half the slot holders had their own horses run but other slot holders negotiated with owners. It was no surprise the winner, Self Assured, was the first slot filled.
Without knowing details of the deal between the owner and the slot holder I imagine a 50/50 split would be a fair deal. For The Race that would amount to earnings of $200K each before trainer and driver percentages. That, to me, looks a pretty attractive deal for the owner for a single race.
The Eureka is not as attractive as HRA has imposed a "miners tax" to partially fund the race. However, if I was lucky enough to own a crack 3 or 4 year old pacer over the next three or four years I'd be dusting off the welcome mat should a slot holder come calling. The slot holder takes the risks, the owners reap the rewards.
Kev, again talking about The Race, take a look at the names of the slot holders:Quote:
Originally Posted by Messenger
https://www.therace.nz/slots/://
Hydroflow is the Breckon's irrigation pump business and they part own Spankem along with the Kennards. Kennards are major horse syndicators and own South Coast Arden in partnership with the Breckons, so between connections they double their chances with two slots and promote their respective businesses. Krug's slot is owned by Ladbrokes, the bookies. They have a sizeable advertising budget.
And so on. In answer to the question you posed, look no further than SENZ.
This company is the NZ broadcasting arm of Craig Hutchinson's SEN sports media business. Hutchy jumped at the chance for his business to be the first slot holder and, due to exemplary proactive negotiations, secured NZ's best pacer as The Race's first confirmed starter.
This caught even SENZ's on air announcers by surprise. Hutchy was on air in NZ the next morning explaining the move. Over coming weeks the radio station ran competitions for listeners to win 1% "ownership" of Self Assured for The Race. This created greater awareness of the fledgling broadcaster and introduced a whole new bunch of "owners" to harness racing. They all went off their heads when Self Assured won and pocketed two grand each just for the fun of it.
Do you reckon at least a few of those one-time "owners" might have developed a taste for harness racing? Do you reckon SENZ might have a higher profile now than it had a few months back?
And, after speaking to people who should know, a large percentage of the crowd at Cambridge on a Thursday night before Easter were first time attendees. Given the terrific attractions and promotions put on by the club on the night I would expect many of them to come back again.
It would appear everyone was a winner from The Race. Whether The Eureka can be as successful depends heavily on HRA and Club Menangle's ability and willingness to learn from Cambridge.
Trev, I will be happy if Eureka finds wealthy people to buy the slots regardless of the maths. That is what it should be - returning to the sports origins : "My horse is better than yours, how about ...."
I think SENZ sounds like a one off but maybe we will find one of them. Maybe not a new business but one that copies SENZ. I can't say I believe lucky competition winners are likely to become owners again, they will definitely enter more competitions but that is already what they do.
Betting agencies have so much money (for advertising too) so why not. Several of them is the most likely scenario, as long as making the TAB naming sponsor does not preclude that
Radio stations (and media networks - fingers crossed) and Betting agencies having a vested interest in promoting harness racing can only be good so you have won me over :D
From Harnesslink News
HRA is desperate to shut down any Stallion owners’ criticism of their controversial Stallion Tax.
https://harnesslink.com/australia/dont-you-dare/
Adam Hamilton has reported that Leap Of Faith and Catch A Wave are working their programs around the Eureka in 11 months time
https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/the...-trots-titles/
https://www.theeureka.com.au/
Not even 10 weeks until the Eureka
I do think these icons next to every 2yo,3yo & 4yo in the Form Guide are bit large
It really is an awful icon - it is like 4 icons
https://peterprofit.com/is-singo-rea...or-the-eureka/
"John Singleton, informed by his team of advisors - unnamed - is gong to pick the emergencies himself, or so it appears"
Really not sure how PP has come to that conclusion.
Singo the person picks his 1 horse slot holding from the Singo race.
The emergencies selected by an independent panel nothing to do with Singo the person.
Albion Park tonight Leap To Fame showed what he may have done without a tireless wheel last start
https://www.harness.org.au/racing/fi...23#APC05082301
He was awesome
26.6 last qtr after facing the breeze, untouched and just blew them away.
He is the horse to beat in every race he contests.
Magician will be Tassie's representative in the race after winning The Beautide last night
https://www.harness.org.au/racing/fi...23#EHM05082308
I doubt that he will get within 50m of the winner - sorry
Encipher gives SA representation in the big race
https://harnesslink.com/australia/sa...-harness-race/
It would have been nice if Kate had been able to driver her to make it an all round SA thing
Have to say not many people in Vic getting excited about this race, it has divided the industry by robbing the poor to pay the rich !
Adam is writing the opposite: $2.1 million TAB Eureka is uniting Australian harness racing
https://harnessracingupdate.com/2023...arness-racing/
Adam talks through his pocket. It's only uniting people with a runner in the race and fans of those horses, the rest of the Vic industry don't seem excited. I suppose I only associate with the battlers though.
Yes, we no Adam is always Mr. Positivity - we do need his type mind you
I wonder whether there is any interest in the West
No interest whatsoever Kev. The idea of sending Wonderful To Fly over to compete was ludicrous outclassed and highly likely the connections would have ended up without a horse.Quote:
Originally Posted by Messenger
Harness racing is barely worth watching in the West at the moment The Nullarbor proved that. G F J Bond, S A Bond pretty much controls racing here dozens of horses and obviously not one capable of competing in the East.
Excellent article written by Harnesslink Media . Written yesterday about Eureka.
Captain Rav trial at Menangle this morning ?
No replay up yet.
The replay is up now
https://www.harness.org.au/racing/fi...23#MEQ23082301
Hard to know what to make of it - just a hit out I think
Not asked to do much. The leaders came home in 54 so it is hard to expect the Captain to take ground
Was that this article Trish?Quote:
Originally Posted by trish
https://harnesslink.com/australia/la...ain-ravishing/
“It’s disappointing and anything but ideal,” Taiba said. “He’s never done that before, but all I can put it down to is that he felt too fresh after six months away from the races.
“It’s not the trial we went there to have. If there’s any positive to come out of it, he was clocked to run his last half in 53.7sec.”
https://www.harness.org.au/media-roo...?news_id=62109
No Kev. I read it yesterday & could not find it today , so I looked in their look it up symbol thingie & put in Eureka Uniting Harness racing Australia? Get your hand off it. I remembered that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Messenger
This is the article you are looking for. And it should be read and absorbed by everybody involved in the industry as it begs the question what the role of Harness Racing Australia is. Why has it taken on being a promoter of a single race partly funded by levees imposed on stallion owners and breeders?
https://harnesslink.com/new-zealand/...r-hand-off-it/
There is no author of the article mentioned other than Harnesslink. Well done to the author, whoever they are. They have pointed a spray gun at the elephant in the room and sprayed it fluorescent pink.
Thanks Trevor - I didn't think to look for an article on an Australian race in 'NZ News'
The article makes a lot of sense
This point is disgusting and alarming:
“Registration (of a stallion) may be suspended or cancelled if the applicant or other persons connected with the horse engage in conduct that is detrimental or damaging to the industry or disparaging of HRA, its members, executive and staff.”
Stallion owners and anybody connected to them have been effectively muzzled.
My only quibble would be painting NZ as the only party interested in becoming stronger through unity (when commenting on NZ breds exclusion) in regard to NZ walking away from the Interdom
The article is on the Aus news as well but, with both, you have to scroll down three pages to find it.
I'd love to see what would happen to the Australian breeding industry if, for example, Alabar based all of its stallions in NZ. And, although it is a lazy bureaucracy that lacks courage, what actions would the ACCC take if a restraint of trade complaint were made. Especially when the bullying threat not to register stallions owned by HRA's dissenters.
The emergencies are, in no order: Don Hugo, Naturally Gifted, Heza Son Of Agun and Tims A Trooper.
Don Hugo has only won prizemoney of $88k and like Naturally Gifted has never broken 1.53