BREEDING FORUM

Posted: **Fri Jan 22, 2016 8:55 am**

It’s a new year! Every one is looking forward to a new season, New foals, new stallions, new beginnings, new opportunities. That’s great but let’s just be realistic and look at what has just happened in the foal and even the yearling markets. A familiar ‘old’ word is creeping back into the collective vocabulary, OVERPRODUCTION!
While the implications are serious it is in fact a misnomer, a convenient label to put on the fact that the Racing business, its administrators and logistic partners have failed the breeders who are an important stakeholder.
Racing doesn’t need less foals it needs more owners willing to race the produce that breeders provide. It needs to provide owners with incentives to invest and to own the horses that breeders produce.
In this basic endeavour Racing has failed. It has been failing for many years and in spite of the fact that the failings have been highlighted Racing continues to fail, and to fail spectacularly.
It fails to provide opportunities for owners to recoup serious investment. It fails to provide enough high quality sport to attract people to the race tracks. It fails to offer those that do venture to the tracks value for money or even a sense that their patronage is valued.
They have failed to recognise the importance of free to air high quality TV coverage.
They have failed to present anything other than low grade opportunity for betting.
The tracks have failed to invest any of their huge reserves of cash into improving the courses and the racing experience.
I think we are looking at another catastrophic collapse at the supply end, possibly even worse than the last one. If my worst fears are realised this will be the end game for many breeders.