Reply With QuoteThanks for dotting my i's and crossing my t's Richard. I did write Non sales futurity, yes, that means sales horses aren't eligible. And yes you can enter the APG series if you pay fees of over $6000 if you want to compete against the quality of horses my suggestion is trying to avoid so I don't know where you're going with that.Originally Posted by alphastud
When you pose What if we had an owner / breeder futurity? you are on the same page as me, that is, sale's horses would not be eligible?
Part of my point was I believe the APG concept can be more than a bit counterproductive (it seems Rick is also suggesting that) in increasing breeding, hence 2yo, numbers.
The owner/breeder race/series I think we're both getting at Richard doesn't have to be a futurity. I used the Vic Home Grown Series as an example, which really isn't a futurity, other than paying your once yearly Vicbred fee. As Rick has alluded to a lot of people are getting sick or wary of futurity payments. Obviously I'm not talking of a race series with prize money levels comparable with APG, Sires/Breeders Challenge or Breeders Crown. In Vic's case HRV could see fit to incentivise smaller breeder/owners to breed without the disincentive of futurity payments by using the Home Grown Series. Afterall, they aren't scared to change it's conditions.
It has the hallmarks of what I've proposed, "Home Grown", prize money won conditions, introduced for horses unlikely to win/have won the APG, Vic Sires or even Breeders Crown, but it's timing lends itself to APG sales graduates heading to the APG races and it's also run before the Sires Series and Breeders Crown. It's objective is defeated before it's run! Huge question marks.
I'm declaring I have no ulterior motives nor current pecuniary interest in my questioning of the Vic Home grown Series but I hope others and HRV could see why I question it in the way I have. edit: Might it be a concern to HRV I, and other potential or dormant breeders, don't have a pecuniary interest?
If Rick's reading this, do you know the reason why the eligibility prize money earned was raised form $6000 to $10,000 for the Vic Home Grown series?
I just remembered, it may have been on the podcast Shannon Nixon used to produce with Brett Coffey. Shannon being Harness Breeders Vic vice president, Brett secretary of same body and also with Alabar. There was some discussion involving the dominance of certain sires and how that might be setting the industry back. Shannon suggested, perhaps relaying other's thoughts, that a race/series might be established for progeny of sires with service fee under a certain level. Considering the background of both these guys it was heartening to hear that aired. It didn't get a big run but it would seem people similar to, and including, yourself Richard aren't completely against the type of thing we're looking at here. But heartening and fruition are worlds apart.
I couldn't agree with a concept that rues out certain sires as everyone knows not all mating's result in a champ. People who spend that sort of money on a stallion still should have a chance to recover costs. But the boys might have also been looking at redistributing the patronage of stallions, hence the health of the breeding industry.
I think they used to have a segment, 'bricks or bouquets', something like that. Bouquets to them for having a look.
