February Breeders’ Bulletin

Breeders Bulletin

17 Feb

Written By Harness Breeders Victoria

Our latest newsletter is available now - read below or click H ERE to access the version with live links.

Breeder's Bulletin February

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Committee Notes

It has been brought to the attention of HBV that Victorian broodmare owners who notified the birth of their 2024/25 season foals after the 1 January are being billed the $220 Foal Registration Fee, whilst those who notified foals prior to that date have been able to register their foals free of charge. HBV have written to HRV pointing out this anomaly and stressed that the 2025 foaling season doesn’t commence until August. HBV have asked that those broodmare owners who have been invoiced the $220 fee now be credited or refunded that amount.

HBV have also joined with three other kindred bodies in communicating with HRV about the race meetings calendar and also concessions for two- and three-year-olds. You can read below the full submission. HBV will soon be communicating with the Board of HRV about the future of the HRA Stallion Levy. The three-year cycle of imposing the levy on some service fees has concluded with the 2024/25 breeding season and HBV will be strongly encouraging the Board of HRV to vote against the Stallion Levy being imposed on service fees past this deadline. As with all our lobbying efforts, our voice is best heard when we have wide membership and good committee representation. We encourage you to join or renew for 2025 if you haven't done so already, and consider joining the general committee at our AGM in March (details and forms below).

Futurities Payment Dates 2025

The Vicbred & Need For Speed futurities payments scheme is now available HERE.

Kindred Bodies Update

HRV invited the kindred bodies to submit feedback on the guiding principals for the 2026 racing calendar. You can read the joint response from HBV with VHRC and VSTA in late January HERE.

2025 Yearling Sales

The first of the Melbourne sales have been run thanks to Australian Pacing Gold, we congratulation both member vendors and those astute purchasers of Vicbred value at Oaklands. Click through to view the catalogue for Melbourne's remaining sale here:

Nutrien Melbourne - Sunday 13 April

Harness Breeders (Vic) Annual General Meeting Notice

10:30AM SUNDAY 16 MARCH 2025
CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE AGM OR SAVE THE LINK

The next Harness Breeders Victoria AGM will be held as a virtual conference via Google Meets to enable as many members to take part as possible. This AGM covers our full season year from 1 January to 31 December 2024. Notification has also been sent as part of the 2025 renewal letter by post.

The Agenda can be downloaded below and the Annual Report will be published closer to the event on the HBV website and linked through our various social media channels and emails.

Nominations to join the committee will be due no later than the Thursday before the event (get your form here) - we are always looking for new committee members and there are currently vacancies and executive rolls that need to be filled. 2025 will be a critical time for breeders and for our industry - we need a full and functioning committee to advocate for breeders' interests as best we possibly can. Meetings are generally held online for best accessibility and the current Executive are happy to support members who've never served on a committee before.

Please mark the date in your diaries - good representation from our membership is really important to effect a successful AGM.

Download the Annual General Meeting Agenda HERE

FoalQuest 2025

We'll be soon on the lookout for a Vicbred foal to grace the cover of next year's edition of the Australasian Standardbred Stallion Guide, so make sure your cameras are at the ready this season - T&Cs are HERE, and be sure to tag us on Facebook & Twitter so we can share the foal love this season! You can also submit your photos to APG for their terrific new gallery HERE.

HBV Membership

New season membership for 2025 are now open with renewal notices to be issued to current and recently lapsed members in the last few weeks. Membership in this coming season is more important than ever to ensure the breeders' collective voice is truly being heard - support your very active kindred body in continuing to lobby government, HRA and HRV on behalf of Victorian breeders and commit to representation to the Harness Racing Advisory Council. Membership benefits will remain the same, including a hard copy of the 2025 Australasian Standardbred Stallion Guide delivered straight to your door.

Renew Your Membership For 2025 Here

Member Group Results

Congratulations to Group 1 & top line race winning member-breeders in January:

Ash Haynes - Arcee Phoenix (pic, GR1 Maori Mile & GR3 Knight Pistol)
Yabby Dam Farms - Keayang Chucky (GR3 VL Dullard Trotters Cup)
Peter Gleeson - Always Hot (LC Caduceus 3YO Classic)
Redbank Lodge - Leap To Fame (LC Melton Casey Classic)

HBV now on BlueSky

Remember how Twitter used to work? The original makers of the news feed social platform have now made their latest development open to everyone - you'll find HBV there at @harnessbreeders.bsky.social or HERE.

Breed To Succeed - Why We Breed

Dr Clarissa-Brown, expert in equine growth and development from Kentucky Equine Research, discussed these elements with us in 2023, captured here from our live Breed To Succeed event by Campbell’s Comments.

Harness Breeders Victoria Committee Meetings

The next meeting of the HBV committee is scheduled for Tuesday 25 February and a summary of proceedings will be posted on our website shortly after. We invite members and interested parties to submit papers or correspondence for consideration by the Committee by post or email. Please refer to previously summaries on our website to ensure the issue has not previously been addressed by the Committee. For consideration at the each meeting, members should email papers or correspondence to contact@hbv.org.au.