An update from the President

It is now seven weeks since the Industry Rally at Bendigo, which many of you would have attended. A video recording of the Meeting and a Letter outlining Motions passed at the meeting were sent to the Minister of Racing in the week following the Rally. None of the Kindred Bodies have ever received a reply or even an acknowledgement from the Racing Minister’s office that he had received the correspondence. Then came the announcement from HRV on 1st October that there were to be substantial reductions in prizemoney and Breeders Bonuses from 1st January 2025.

The Industry was made aware at the Bendigo rally of the gross mismanagement by the Board and senior management at HRV , resulting in another multi-million dollar loss in the 23/24 Financial year that has left Harness Racing in Victoria in a state of crisis. That being said, our whole Industry now need to equally share some of the pain associated with ‘refloating the ship and steering it in the right direction’.

However as an Association responsible for Breeding in Victoria, we do NOT accept that base prizemoney should drop further to $4,000 and we certainly do NOT accept that Bonuses that are paid to Owners/Breeders should be slashed from a maximum of $12,000 to a minimum of $3,000. The Kindred Bodies of Victoria, which includes Harness Breeders Victoria [HBV] have just released dates and times for Industry Roadshows to be held at six strategic areas across Victoria [ you should have received details yesterday].

The agenda for each of these Meetings will not only include discussion about these prizemoney and Bonus cuts but also matters very much affecting the Breeding Industry across the Country – they being:

1. The HRA Stallion Levy.

2. The National Ratings System and its impact on 2 and 3 year old racing.

So we encourage each and every person involved in breeding horses in Victoria to attend one of these Roadshows meetings at either Cranbourne, Shepparton, Ballarat, Terang, Bendigo or Mildura. Below is some additional information that is background material to assist in discussion about the Agenda items.

Vicbred Bonuses
With Breeding numbers sliding downwards year after year it has been common practice for Controlling Bodies in every State to allocate money to encourage Breeding. So in Victoria the Vicbred Bonuses provide some worthwhile return to the vast majority of the owners of young horses , who will reinvest whilst there are Hopes and Dreams to encourage them.

HRA Stallion Levy

It is common knowledge that the Breeders Associations in every State of Australia opposed the Stallion Tax when it was being proposed by HRA in 2021. Despite the protests, the HRA Executive comprising delegates from each State, introduced the Immoral tax to assist in the funding of a $2 million Slots race. Every other Slots race in the Southern Hemisphere is funded by the Slot Holders and Sponsorships.

On 14 th June this year HRA announced they had Invoiced Breeders $920,944 [ ex GST ] for this Tax or Levy as they call it. The Tax will apply once again to the relevant Service Fees this year – the third year in the 3 year cycle of funding for the Eureka race. Breeders need now to vigorously fight and lobby the HRV Board to cast aside the Tax once and forever. It has achieved nothing in increasing Breeding numbers or ownership in Harness Racing.

National Ratings System

There seems to be “ holes “ in many places in this system of Handicapping , so we encourage comment as much as possible at the Roadshows. This National Rating system certainly hasn’t encouraged Breeding and racing 2 and 3 year olds and the Yearling Sale results and Clearance rates reflect this. Ray Murrihy, probably the most respected Steward in Australian racing over the past 40 years, was requested in 2023 to investigate allegations of Race Fixing and Animal Welfare concerns in Tasmania. His Report released to the Tasmanian Government in February this year was quite damning of the Australian National Ratings system [refer Page 44 of his Report].

We encourage all members of HBV and Breeders of Victoria to attend these Roadshows and voice your opinion on all these matters.