CONTENTS

• Table 1 - 1990 Statistics
• Table 2 - Services and Foalings Graph
• Table 3 - Live Foals - Total Horses Named
• Table 4 - Live Foals - Individual Foaling Crops Named
• Table 5 - Services, Live Foals, Percentages

Accompanying Tables 2

• Table 6 - Foaling Crops Raced By Age
• Table 7 - Live Foalsl - Horses Named, Starters, Winners By Gender
• Table 8 - Pools Of Horses To Race Graph
• Table 9 - Pools of Horses To Race Statistics
• Table 10 - Performers To Starters By Age - Percentages

Accompanying Tables 3

• Table 11 - Stakemoney - All Starters
• Table 12 - Stakemoney - 2YO
• Table 13 - Stakemoney - 3YO
• Table 14 - Age Of Producing Mares
• Table 15 - National Annual Costs of Breeding

INTRODUCTION

The project concentrates exclusively on horses which did not race whether named or unnamed and does not examine the group of horses which raced and their respective racing activities.

The study takes a look at the rearing cycle, education and training, to pre-race routines until at last the horse is determined to be not suitable for racing for whatsoever reasons.

The AHRC and its members have an economic interest in the wastage of horses because each standardbred that does not proceed along the foal registration process to naming represents loss of revenue.

There is also a loss suffered by industry participants if after capital and ongoing expenditure the standardbred does not measure up to racing requirements.

The study therefore focuses on industry financial losses relating to breeding and pre-racing by breeders and owners and to State and national administrators when horses do not reach full registration cycling from foaling to racing.

Statistics generated from the AHRC database reveal that of any given years foal crop approximately 60% only are now named whilst in 1982 the percentage was 69.33%. The total of all horses named in any season has also fallen from 83.38% in 1982 to 73.69% on current figures therefore names allocated have fallen by around 10% over a period of 15 years and are falling slightly more each year.

The prospective loss therefore to AHRC if only 60% of horses are named of any given years foal crop is up to $30,940 annually based on current charges and foaling and naming statistics.

The comparable annual loss of revenue to State Controlling Bodies on a national basis using the same statistics is $154,700 based on current charges of Controlling Bodies.

The thrust for the need for the study therefore is well founded and the results advance reasons why horses are not being named and in the percentages they once were and proposes recommendations to arrest this trend.

The AHRC database can produce statistics for almost any inquiry but it cannot produce information relating to reasons why horses do not progress to naming. This type of information is known only to breeders and owners of standardbreds.

To access this information it was decided to forward a questionnaire to breeders and owners of horses which were not named and at the same time to connections of named horses which did not race as there is a percentage of cross match between these two groups of owners and breeders.

Obviously it is impossible and too unwieldy in any event to circulate all Australian breeders and it was further decided to target one foaling crop in one State only such State having credentials of isolation and lack of migration of its horses to other States and which at the same time could provide a reasonable sample of numbers that would be indicative of the national scene.

Western Australia was chosen because it most closely met the criteria and could provide a pilot study of nearly 10% of the national foaling crop whereas in eastern States such information would be extremely difficult to obtain because of migratory and mobility characteristics of their horses. Other States were discounted because of lesser percentages of the annual foal crop.

1990 was selected as the target foal crop as statistics would be available up to the end of such foal crop’s sixth year whereby the very great majority of horses being tried for the racing scene would have done so and their fate would be known. 1990 was also chosen for the fact that most breeders and owners would still have clear recollections of those horses.

To test the hypothesis that Western Australia would be an excellent sample State to predict national trends, Western Australian statistics for foals of 1989,1990 and 1991 were compared to national statistics. It was found firstly, that the three Western Australian sample years statistics compared favourably with one another, and secondly, that the Western Australian 1990 statistics tested conservatively but favourably with comparable national figures.

Overall it was concluded that Western Australian State statistics reasonably reflect national trends.

A questionnaire was despatched to breeders and owners of Western Australian bred foals which were either unnamed or named but unraced to establish reasons why horses remained unnamed and unraced and their respective fates. Also to be elicited was information concerning the handling, breaking in and training of these two classes of standardbreds and the costs thereof.

In the event nearly 52% of replies were received by return of questionnaires or by telephone inquiry so that the sample could be well regarded as indicative of the Western Australian breeding and racing scene and would also reflect the national scene.

The findings which follow were developed from the returns and identify reasons to adequately answer the basic questions why horses are not named and why horses whether unnamed or named did not go through the full cycle of handling, breaking in, gaiting, trialling etc. The findings also look at such matters as costs to reasonably ascertain industry losses in respect of these unnamed horses.

Desk research and information from the AHRC database was used to determine various aspects of wastage of colts/geldings and fillies and their respective fates whether cut short by death or by retirement into breeding ranks or exiled into the general equestrian world.

Factors attributed to gender and winning statistics have been examined to establish whether there is any bias.

The results of the study should lead in some instances to forecasting the shortages and availability of segments of the standardbred so that adequate measures can be put into place to assist the greatest use of the standardbred product.

The study deals firstly, with findings relating to unnamed horses, then horses named but which did not race. There is also a section dealing with the plight of fillies and mares. The study finishes with unified conclusions incorporating recommendations for the attention of the Australian Harness Racing Council and its members.

Lastly, the attached tables incorporate statistics generated from the AHRC database and from existing reports in the AHRC archives.

FINDINGS - UNNAMED HORSES

Note: The percentages shown are of the total 1990 Western Australian crop of foals and are interchangeable as national percentages.

U1     The national foaling crop for 1990 totalled 10,205 of which only 6269 were named.

U2     In Western Australia 29.1% remain unnamed of the 1990 foaling crop and of these 24.72% have now died or have been destructed; 3.01% were sold for equestrian, leisure, or riding school activities whilst the remaining 1.37% have inactive or as yet to be determined fates.

On a national basis therefore the total unnamed horse population being 3936 and as said

the Western Austrlian state percentage is relative to national percentages then 3790 unnamed horses are no longer in the harness racing industry such horses having died/destructed or otherwise disposed of.

U3     In Western Australia the greatest percentage of unnamed horses died or were destructed as two year olds - as follows

U4 In Western Australia the greatest cause of death of unnamed horses was deliberate destruction - as follows

U5     Nearly 100% of the total sample of Western Australian unnamed horses were handled. broken in and gaited by the breeder/owner.

U6     Breeders of the Western Australian unnamed horses used their own mares almost exclusively and very seldom leased in other owners mares.

U7     Almost 100% of the Western Australian mares that produced unnamed horses in Western Australia were agisted on the property of the breeder/owner.

U8     80%* of breeders in Western Australia personally "weaned" their own foals.

U9     86.2%* of breeders of Western Australian unnamed horses personally "handled" their own foals, whilst 26.77% of all Western Australian unnamed horses were "handled" to some degree.

U10     25.08% of Western Australian unnamed horses were first "handled" as foals at foot or as weanlings.

U11     23.05% of Western Australian unnamed horses were "broken in and gaited".

U12     The ages at which the unnamed Western Australian horses were "broken in and gaited" were:

Yearlings 9.74%
2YO 10.58%
Other ages 2.73%

Total percentage 23.05%

U13     26.04% of the total sample of Western Australian unnamed horses were foaled, or handled, or broken in, or gaited by the breeder.

U14     Unnamed horses in Western Australia tended to remain in the very great majority in the ownership of their breeders in the breaking in and trialing periods.

U15     16.01% of the Western Australian unnamed horses were "taken in hand" with the intent to go to unofficial trainers trials and if proven thence to be named, raced in official trials and raced at registered meetings.

U16     For the following reasons the Western Australian unnamed horses that were "taken in hand" did not proceed to naming, trialing and racing

Note: Many of the horses described as not fast enough,erratic/dangerous, badly gaited etc were later deliberately destructed.

U18 The cost to the breeder in respect of breeding an unnamed horse at the lower end of the economic scale is as follows:

Weanling $1,340 (est)
Yearling $1,240 (est)

SNAPSHOT OF AN UNNAMED HORSE

• Generally, bred, reared, handled, broken in and gaited by its breeder.
• For the most part the unnamed horse does not have the pedigree, conformation, and looks that the named horses have, and does not give many encouraging signs of promise and speed in breaking in and gaiting.
• Very rarely does the unnamed horse owner have the necessary funds to retain and retry the horse at a later stage or stages, nor does the owner greatly attempt to retire the horse on their own properties.
• Its owner is unwilling to go to any great expense in most areas and will try to save costs wherever possible.
• The unnamed horse has only a 20-30% chance of survival beyond its two year old days and has since left the harness racing industry whether by death or exile by the end of its sixth year.

CONCLUSION - UNNAMED HORSES

The wastage of standardbred horses is not confined merely to injuries sustained in breaking in and training or to lack of nutrition or to poor conformation or to the susceptibility of horses to particular diseases or viruses. To these reasons can be added in a major sense the economic priorities of the breeder/owner and whether the horse breaks in with promise and shows some speed. If a horse is poorly bred or in any way badly conformed or shows no early speed or is going to be difficult to break in and train the chances are that the breeder/owner will not greatly persist and dispose of the horse as quickly as possible to sever the cost.. This statement is particularly true of the unnamed standardbred as such a horse has to prove itself before being considered worthy of a name.

• Breeders and owners have a high outlay in breeding, rearing, breaking in, training etc., and whilst the cost of naming is insignificant compared to those costs it is a cost that can be saved by waiting to establish whether the horse will progress to a racing proposition.
• Horses which remain unnamed are generally those at the bottom of the market - i.e. by unsuccessful or untried sires or from mares which are untried or have a record of producing poor performers or they have a poor or ordinary pedigree and are therefore for these reasons at the lower end of expectation.
• Breeders/owners of this group of horses are generally the "do it yourself" type with little funding to pursue their harness racing interests fully and therefore try to save costs wherever possible leading to a quick severance if the horse does not show promise.
• Poor conformation,erratic behaviour are other reasons why horses are not named and are disposed of.

Although remnants still remain of the 1990 crop of Western Australian unnamed horses and some may yet enter the breeding and racing cycle, for all practical purposes the 1990 unnamed segment of the Western Australian breeding industry is no longer any factor in harness racing whatsoever with an overwhelming proportion having died or destructed.

The breeder has suffered a loss on the investment and the Controlling Body has lost revenue.

The great probability is that the same circumstances apply in all other States.

It would also seem that the same conclusions can be drawn for previous and later foaling crops where horses are unnamed.

COMMENT - UNNAMED HORSES

In all other countries in the world where harness racing is conducted it is required that horses be named at registration of the foal. This gives the horse an immediate identity and allows those national Controlling Bodies to develop new "one stop" simplified registration procedures thereby saving office handling, time and costs and at the same time gaining some additional revenue.

The claim that this would lead to a waste of names is not valid. Australia registers names to around 6000 to 7000 horses yearly but by comparison the United States Trotting Association annually registers 150% more.

In Australia there are unknown millions of names still available and in any event old names are eligible for re-use. Currently there are slightly in excess of 500,000 names on the AHRC computer, however, this is the end result of 50 years of name allocation and reference entries of Stud Book pedigrees. At the current rate of name allocations in Australia it will be another 50 years before the current file of names is doubled.

FINDINGS - NAMED UNRACED HORSES

Note: The percentages shown are of the total Western Australian 1990 crop of foals and are interchangeable as national percentages.

N1     The national foaling crop for 1990 totalled 10,205 of which 6269 were named.

N2     In Western Australia 70.88% of the total of horses of the Western Australian 1990 foaling crop were named including 42.55% which were raced and 28.35% which remain unraced.

N3     15.33% of the Western Australian named horses which remained unraced have now died or were destructed and this percentage increases each day.

N4     Western Australian named but unraced horses have died at the following ages:

N5     The causes of death of Western Australian horses which did not race are-

N6     There was greater activity in sales for all named horses whether raced or unraced.

N7     Generally, the pattern for ownership, weaning, rearing, handling, breaking in, for all named horse whether raced or unraced was slightly better than for unnamed horses, however, in the area of being taken in hand with the intent to go the races the named horse had a far greater percentage.

N8     25.73% of the total of Western Australian named/unraced horses were broken in and gaited. Expressed otherwise this represents 91.9% of the total named/unraced horses.

N9     91.31% of the total Western Australian 1990 crop of foals were broken in and gaited as follows:

N10     Only 8.69% of the total foal crop in Western Australia were not broken in and gaited.

N11     18.01% of the total named/unraced horses in Western Australia were broken as yearlings whilst 7.72% were broken in and gaited as 2 year olds.

N12     25.35% of the total named/unraced horses in Western Australia were taken in hand to be trained to go to registered races.

N13     The ages at which Western Australian named/unraced were taken in hand to be trained to go to registered races were:

N14     The reasons why Western Australian named/unraced horse did not proceed to racing are:

Note: Many of these horses would subsequently enter the deliberate destruction percentages or if a mare perhaps kept for breeding.

N15     7.09% of Western Australian named/unraced horses were raced in official trials but did not subsequently race. The age at which these horses were raced in official trials were:

N16     A little over half of the Western Australian named/unraced fillies/mares were to be subsequently tried as brood mares.

CONCLUSION - COMMENT
NAMED UNRACED HORSES

The distinction between an unnamed standardbred and a standardbred given a name is quite remarkable as the comparison chart N17 reveals. The conclusion is drawn that the breeder/owner of the named/unraced horse has decided for reasons of pedigree, looks, conformation,and other encouraging signs that have become evident at handling, breaking in and training stages that the horse may be possibility for racing (or breeding) and is thereby worthy of a name and the expenditure of a small additional fee.

This is proven by facts that more named horses are broken in and gaited and at an earlier age, and far more are taken in hand to train and race. Fewer named/unraced horses have died or have been destructed at the time of the study in January, 1998.

Whilst unnamed standardbreds have all but been written out of the breeding and racing scene by death or given another career path, the named standardbred receives better treatment initially and although the same outcome for named horses is in a sense postponed many horses will eventually suffer the same fate as the unnamed horse.

Fillies and mares may finish up in the brood mare ranks perhaps, whereas the unnamed fillies and mares had no future.

Overall the great majority of the named/unraced standardbreds have achieved as much as their ability allows in the full cycling of handling, breaking in, training etc and it is therefore difficult to propose any different solution to the current situation. There is hardly any solution for a standardbred colt/gelding which for various reasons is not fast enough to compete.

And as for the named/raced standardbred the percentage still racing at the end of their six year old career is down to 17.68% and slowly declining.  Whether the named/raced horse has reached its full racing potential within the racing system is circumscribed by the efficacy of the handicapping system, and the abilities of their respective trainers/drivers.

The expense to the national breeding industry of the total foaling crop of 1990 prior to turning two year old was in the range of $25.696M (lower) to $35.893M(higher), however, prizemoney for the ensuing two year old racing season of 1992/93 was only $5.769M whilst the owners of the same crop racing as three year olds could only have looked forward to $6.399M prizemoney meanwhile the costs of training and racing a two and three year olds would have to be added to the initial cost.

This would seem to indicate over capitalisation of the breeding industry which is burdened with a huge development cost of horses, or, alternatively not enough of the overall prizemoney "pie" is being pushed into young horse racing.

The situation should be looked at from the point of view that the same over capitalisation and lack of return is happening each and every year.

COMMENT - FILLIES AND MARES

F1     Fillies and mares of any foaling crop provide an average of 50% of the foal product and their racing outcome is far less promising than for colts. Given that fillies and mares generally are not as fast as colts it follows that there is an inbuilt bias against training and racing fillies and mares against the colts because there are insufficient races. This is a severe disincentive to race 50% of the standardbred product.

F2     The statistical bias against fillies and mares is evident in the following areas:

• * There are less fillies and mares being named
• * There are far less fillies and mares starting racing at all ages.
• * There are far less filly and mare winners at all ages but this is

particularly more evident in two and three year old racing.

F3     38.6% of colts and fillies of the total 1990 foaling crop have so far started in a race.Of these 16.1% were fillies and mares and 8.1% of such fillies and mares have won a race. In their two and three year old careers fillies had only 1.8% and 4.0% chance respectively of winning (see Table 1) whilst the colts had almost double the chance.

F4     Given that fillies and mares make up 50% of the breeding product the prospective return to their breeders and owners is generally depressing in all areas including yearling sales.

F5     There is a trend for additional exclusive races for fillies and mares in some States and for fillies or mares to have preferred barrier positions but these trends are not nation wide.

F6     There is a growing shortage of pools of horses to race. If half the industry breeding product is made up of fillies and mares and they are currently trained and raced less and are starved of opportunity it makes sense to provide more opportunities and thereby provide more races at race meetings and greater incentive to trainers and owners to break in and train and race fillies. It would take some years to put these incentives fully into place and a long term commitment would have to be made.

F7     This report was not given a charter to express any conclusions as to the plight of owners of fillies and mares, however, the percentages are overwhelmingly apparent and deserve the attention given here and which is directed to the attention of Controlling Bodies and Clubs to establish whether more can be done to make training and racing of fillies and mares more worthwhile for their owners and breeders and for the well being of the standardbred industry in general. In the end result it is the Clubs that will ultimately benefit from an increased variety of programming and a greater selection of horses.

COMPARISON - 1990 NATIONAL FOALING CROP

It is recommended that the Australian Harness Racing Council appoints a sub-committee to evaluate the general matters and issues in this report and in particular review a proposal that eliminates duplicate work and simplifies procedure by registering and naming all horses when foal notifications are lodged, and further to examine the impact of such initiatives on

• the Australian Stud Book Regulations and Australian and State rules of registration, regulations and policies.
• the breeding/racing administrative procedures.
• the breeders of such foals.
• the financial/commercial activities of the AHRC and its member State Controlling bodies.

It is further recommended that the sub-committee be chaired preferably by a member of the AHRC Executive or a State delegate, supported by the AHRC Chief Executive and others to be named by Council.

Note: It is suggested that some State Registrars be seconded to provide technical information and support and that such sub-committee report to the AHRC Executive by

June/July, 1998.

(c) Copyright 1998