Official Website of THE BREEDERS VOICE Inc. ABN 51 766 986 365

CAN THEY HEAR THEMSELVES ...?


25th May 2022
By Admin.
The promoters of, and apologists for, HRA's indulgent Slot Race THE EUREKA! are certainly coming out with evermore fabulous claims each and every day. [We are of course using 'fabulous' in its original sense - namely: celebrated in fable / rich in myths.] So much so, one really has to wonder whether they can hear themselves?

The promoters of, and apologists for, HRA's indulgent Slot Race THE EUREKA! are certainly coming out with evermore fabulous claims each and every day.  [We are of course using 'fabulous' in its original sense - namely: celebrated in fable /  rich in myths.]  

So much so, one really has to wonder whether they can hear themselves?  

These are just a few from the last couple of days:

 

  • "You can expect to see far fewer colts being gelded in the years to come - as owners seek to turn their young horses into stallions, via victory in The Eureka!"

WHAT?!!  Do these people have any idea, whatsoever, as to why young horses are gelded?  Do they think owners do it just for the fun of it?  Or perhaps to keep their local vet. in work?  PLEASE!  Colts are gelded, in the main, to make them tractable. -- turn them into racehorses, in fact.  The alternative is to let the testosterone run amok and suffer the consequences. [Great if you have a docile, manageable colt.  But ask any trainer or horse handler, and you'll quickly learn that they are in the minority.] 

 

  • "The Eureka! will undoubtedly prove to be a 'stallion-making' race"

REALLY?!!  How exactly ... relative to say the current richest 4-yo race in Australia - the 'Chariots of Fire'?  Same track, same distance, and we already have colts winning 10 of the last 15 'Chariots' [that is from 2008 to 2022], and all - with the exception of Expensive Ego (2021) - have already stood at stud! OK, three of these entire Chariots' winners were bred in New Zealand (heaven forbid) and thus would be 'struck off' under 'The Eureka', and related 'Advance Australia' conditions.

Is 'The Eureka' and its associated Stallion Tax simply nothing more than HRA deciding to declare war on New Zealand studs, and New Zealand breeders in general, rather than our inherently endeavouring to improve the quality of bloodlines in Australia via unfettered access to the best stallions available ANYWHERE?

What on earth happened to the 'spirit of competition', and the robust rivalry with our trans-Tasman cousins, which was, in the past, seen as a healthy and beneficial attribute?  Let history be the judge ...

 

  • "This (taxing imported stallions) is something we should have done 10 or 15 years ago.  It will be the making of the local breeding industry"

YEAH, RIGHT!!  A quick review of the forty-six Colonial Stallions available to Australian breeders currently, very quickly blows that theory right out of the water. Just FOUR were actually sired by a Colonial Stallion - and yes that quartet ALL trace to the mighty Christian Cullen (NZ) ... and thus would have been TAXED under the current proposal.  And just FOUR others boast a Colonial Damsire -- and you guessed it he was Christian Cullen!

That's right. Not a skerrick of actual Australian-bred blood anywhere - and without CC we'd be totally marooned. 

Sure, Colonial Stallions are growing in popularity ... with an 11% and 18% increase in foal numbers year-on-year over the past two seasons, which is a positive. BUT, when it comes to a return on investment - at the yearling sales for example - the 'colonials' rate really poorly.  In 2021, for example, the Australian sales average for foals by Colonial Sires was just 48% of the overall sales average (all-in) [$ 12,034 vs. $ 24,829].  And at the recently concluded 2022 Sales, the figures were $ 16,637 for 'colonials' vs. $ 29,660 across the board = a 44% 'haircut'.  Considering underlying costs in rearing a foal, and preparing it for the sales, this is a significant differential and one which will be of grave concern to every commercial breeder.

If statistics such as these are of concern to you, please join us in our call on the Controlling Bodies in each and every State that they forcibly tell HRA that there is little or no support for such an ill-conceived and crippling tax -- and that they must resile from its implementation immediately.

 

PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION AGAINST THIS CRAZY STALLION TAX, NOW!   

SILENCE IS NO LONGER AN OPTION.

GO TO PETITION

... and have YOUR VOICE HEARD.

 

 


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