HRNZ – Breeding Incentives

Last week Harness Racing New Zealand released a bold plan designed to help reverse the decline of foals being born which they hope will in time, bolster the future racing stock.

1367 foals were registered in 2022.  This is a 59% decline in the last past twenty years, and is the lowest number since the mid 1960s. The number of racehorses is down to just 2,457.

With HRNZ holding 2,400 races per calendar year, alarm bells are clearly ringing and have been for some time.

“If the rate of decline continued, by 2026 we would be down to 727 foals. Scary,” HRNZ Racing Manager Catherine McDonald said.

HRNZ put together a Breeding Focus Group which was tasked with producing ideas that would result in a greater number of mares being in foal in the forthcoming breeding season.

“We had a variety of ideas, and the Board was keen to get something happening this season. When I went to the Board, I recommended that they put together a subcommittee to cost out all the schemes and look at other ideas.”

“The Board subcommittee listened to all the ideas and wanted something to kick start and at least stabilise the breeding numbers in the first year. The board decided to add some funds from their reserves so the final funding for the incentives end up being $1.4 million.”

So, in the upcoming breeding season all breeders will be credited $1,000 for every mare that produces a microchipped foal. The breeders then have to rebreed using the same mare or another mare and obtain a 42 day positive pregnancy test to receive the credit.

The credit can only be used for the stallion fee service. It can’t be accrued. The credit must be used in the breeding season in which it has been earned and only one stallion service fee credit can be used per mare.

Breeders will also be incentivised to breed from an additional mare with a $3,000 credit available for this.

McDonald says the response has been positive.

“For some breeders this is brilliant. For others it’s about working through the mechanics of things like pre-payment. Some are saying it’s not perfect but it’s something.” 

All breeders are eligible for the incentive scheme including the larger studs.

“If they bred from say twenty mares last year and put those mares back in foal this year, they’re get $1,000 per service fee. There is still a service fee cost to the stud for their mares as they still have the cost of bringing the stallion out and associated day to day costs for the stallion and the numbers of mares they breed to is important to the sport. Doing nothing to breeding is not an option and all breeders will contribute to the success of increasing our horse population.”

Some smaller breeders have contacted McDonald.

“I got a phone call from someone in the Central Districts who hadn’t been breeding because they were worried there wasn’t going to be racing in the area. They have three dry mares and are going to put two back in foal. It’s about keeping everyone in the game at every level.”

McDonald says HRNZ is also aware a better pathway is needed to enable fillies and mares to earn good money before they are bred from.

“The NZ Standardbred Breeders Association has done an aspirational pathway for fillies and mares up to 2026.” Some of this has already been put in place with the new Group 2 race for Trotting Fillies and Mares at NZMTC on November 25th this year. We are hoping to grow this into a Group 1 race over time.

McDonald added that programming pathways need to be better for all horses. Not just fillies and mares.

She believes a measure of the scheme’s success will be the number of mares that foal and are then bred from in the following season. She added that HRNZ is still working with Studs on how the scheme will be administered.

“It’s thrown up a few things like pre-paid service fees. I’ve said to people that they will still get the incentive but we’re just working through how that’s done.”

Increased horse population will ensure bigger fields and more competitive racing. This would in turn, lead to higher turnovers and improve gross betting revenue.

McDonald reported that HRNZ lost five race dates in the 2022-2023 financial year. And some meetings had fewer races carded.

“We don’t want to drop too many more. Running less races means HRNZ won’t have the earning capacity the organisation needs to keep stakes growing in the future.”

Another concern is the number of foals that are born, but never race. This figure is currently 47%.

“If we can have our non-utilisation numbers at 30% instead of 47% and we can increase breeding numbers as well, that would impact how we go forward.” We are looking into ways we can increase utilisation of any foal crop in the future.

McDonald says the success of the incentive scheme will ultimately be measured by the number of mares being breed to in the next three seasons and she would like to see that number reach 1,600.

“In Australia they need about 2,200.” 

The proof will be in the statistics at the end of the breeding season. 

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink