Unwarranted ‘Stallion Tax’ has breeders lost for answers

Breeders and breeding authorities across Australia have been actively lobbying against Harness Racing Australia’s ‘Stallion Tax’ that will help fund the TAB Eureka Slot race.

HRA released last week a ‘Stallion Registration Fee’ where the body has flagged: “generated funds will be utilised to part fund The TAB Eureka, but in reality, these funds can be used generally for the purposes of HRA.”

To view the full release, click here.

Just one of the associations trying to get answers from HRA is the Harness Breeders New South Wales Committee, that this week sent an update to its members titled: ‘Update re Letters of Opposition to Parliamentarians re HRA undemocratic Stallion impost‘.

The email reads:

Your HBNSW Committee have been active lobbying State and Federal members regarding this unwarranted and undemocratic Stallion Levy to be placed on Breeders to fund the Eureka Slot race.  Letters have also been sent to HRA, requesting comprehensive funding details regarding the Eureka slot race with no reply to date.

The letter sent on May 20,2022, to The Honourable Robert Borsak, MLC Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party Parliament House, reads:

Dear Mr Borsak,

I write to you as President of Harness Breeders New South Wales (HBNSW) concerning a decision made by Harness Racing Australia (HRA) which impacts on the Standardbred breeding in New South Wales and across Australia.

At the outset, it needs to be noted the impact of this decision hits Standardbred breeders in the Riverina, Hunter, Central West and Upper Hunter, as it is in these regions where most Standardbred breeders are hobbyists who breed and race their own horses.

HRA has made much in the media as how it has established the richest harness race in the world with a prize pool of $2m. The race is to be called “The Eureka” and is to be funded as a slot race, where slot owners pay for a slot and then negotiate with the horse owner/s. All good in theory, except in the HRA proposal, the slot owners are paying half of the slots purse. Each of the ten (10) slot holders will pay $100,000 for their slots, leaving a short fall of $1m.

The gap is to be funded by Breeders, via a levy on the service fee incurred on the particular stallion selected for the breeder’s mare. A stallion based in Australia or New Zealand will register their stallion for a fee of $500. An owner selecting a shuttle stallion will have to pay a levy of 8o/o per live foal. An owner selecting a stallion where the service is provided via frozen semen from a stallion based overseas will pay a levy of 15% per live foal.

While the levy will -have little impact on the cost of going to an Australian or New Zealand stallion, anyone wishing to access different genetics will be required to pay an additional 8% or 15%. Apart from making it more difficult for the average breeder, there are very real concerns this proposal is anticompetitive, as Australian owners of the shuttle or frozen semen stallions are being priced out of the market by an unfair and uncompetitive levy.

More offensive is the fact the world’s richest harness race will clearly favour the wealthy as the average Standardbred owner will not be able to afford the $100,000 slot. So we have the little owner in regional Australia subsidising a race for the wealthy!

HRA is owned by the various state regulators with a level of ownership by the state­based principal race clubs. HRA is not established by any legislative instrument and is registered in the Australian Capital Territory. Once a decision is adopted the States implement HRA amendments to the rules of harness racing.

While the Minister for Racing does not have powers to direct Harness Racing New South Wales (HRNSW) Harness Breeders New South Wales believes the New South Wales Government should indicate to HRNSW the levy on stallions is NOT conducive to ensuring the sustainability of harness racing in New South Wales. The impact of the HRA decision will have the greatest impact in the regions and on the everyday breeder.

HRA has trumpeted its position the announcement of “The Eureka” has achieved significant media coverage. Harness Breeders New South Wales agrees, with this position, except most of the publicity has been bad!

I have enclosed a few of the articles condemning the decision.

On behalf of Harness Breeders New South Wales, we seek your assistance in raising the unfairness of the levy in Parliament.

Yours sincerely,

Flora Robson
President
Harness Breeders New South Wales.

by Harnesslink Media