Cover image courtesy of Arrowfield Stud
Last year, the Australian public were rocked by the death of beloved racemare Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) following a short battle with laminitis, and the loss of her last foal shortly afterward. Much of the following public outcry was focused on the breeding industry - but not every complaint was based on fact.
“We saw, very aggressively and loudly - possibly for the first time, that there was a lot of criticism towards the breeding industry, and heck of a lot of misinformation came along with that,” said Nathan Skrivanic of Kick Collective, who is part of the Kick Up team that spearheaded the effort to put together the hub.
“When the particularly controvsial ABC article came out, we had a lot of people calling asking Kick Up to help address the lies that were being told. However, all our work needs to be anchored with real information - stats and science - and we'd created that for racing only. It became clear that a resource to correctly communicate about the complexities of breeding, simplified in a way the public could understand, was also very urgently needed.”
Kick Up already provides a vast amount of resources for educating the general public on aspects of and mistruths about racing; current resources span everything from the fatality rate on the track and the ethics of juvenile racing, to uncovering the truth about drug and whip use.
The team went to great lengths to collate and review a lot of the public response to Black Caviar’s passing, and through that research, Skrivanic found time and time again that the wider public had little understanding of what actually goes on when it comes to thoroughbred breeding.
Nathan Skrivanic in the field filming | Image courtesy of Kick Collective
“Some of the things that were being posted online, that people were commenting on and believing, was quite astounding,” Skrivanic said.
The need for proper resources became more apparent than ever.
Industry support
Sharing their proposal for the project late last year, Kick Up received widespread support from across the industry, including hefty donations from Godolphin Australia, Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners Association and OTI Racing, amongst others, and collaboration with the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Association.
The public’s comments are at the forefront of the resource hub; the questions that Kick Up have answered are born directly from misinformation and queries asked on social media, and part of their upcoming campaign involves industry participants responding to things that the public have said.
“You could really sense people’s passion in their responses when they had to form an actual rebuttal to a real comment that was out there,” Skrivanic said.
The Kick Up team filmed content at Arrowfield Stud, Three Bridges Thoroughbreds, and Bhima, as well as with Cambridge Stud, Windsor Park Stud and Waikato Equine Veterinary Centre.
The breeding hub breaks down the information into four sections focusing on foaling, broodmares, raising and weaning foals, and the process of conception itself. Each section contains several blogs that go more in-depth into relevant topics.
For instance, one blog covers the types and use of various equipment in the breeding shed, which directly answers claims made online after Black Caviar’s death that the process is “barbaric” and uses unreasonable restraint during breeding.
The piece emphasises the prioritisation of safety during thoroughbred breeding practices - safety for everyone involved, mare and stallion included.
The team have gone to great lengths to ensure they can back up the facts they present with accurate and up to date research.
“As always, everything that we do is all scientifically backed,” Skrivanic said. “We do a lot of research to define the facts in our content - unlike the media sources and social media commentators who are happy to publish unverified information.”
A blog that will no doubt be popular reading, particularly for people who were drawn to the case of Black Caviar, is one that addresses the topic of laminitis in broodmares. Drawing on veterinary resources and the words of Dr Meta Osborne - a veterinary expert in equine reproduction who was a voice of reason in the media following the mare’s passing - the article clearly outlines a complex disease with varying causes and the realism of treating it.
Spreading the message
Skrivanic hopes that Kick Up’s resources and social media campaign will resonate with the public, and get them to engage and share what they learn with others.
“We’ve designed them to be as accessible to the public as possible, and hopefully that helps them to spread further.”
The team at Kick Up invite further feedback, both from the industry as a whole and from members of the public, on the content available on the site.
“Kick Up is always a work in progress,” Skrivanic said. “We’re always open to new ideas, new questions that people want answered - or if you know of more research, or insights we can use to expand the depth or quality of an answer.
The Breeding Hub, a new addition to Kick Up, is in response to misinformation about the thoroughbred breeding industry | Image courtesy of Kick Up
“Because that's the whole point of it; if someone does have a concern or a question about the industry, we want to be able to answer it. We don't want to shy away from anything.
“Twenty years ago, there were far less concerns about racing and breeding. Now, there’s always new questions and people have new concerns, and the public expects transparency and information. We’re happy to answer those queries.”
Kick Up relies on sponsorships to put resources together, and Kick Collective doubles the impact by matching sponsors with in-kind resources.
Skrivanic credits international thoroughbred owner Rick Gold, recipient of the 2024 Thoroughbred Owners of California’s Ed Friendly Industry Service Award, for his regular contributions to the organisation.
“Rick has fallen in love with the Australian industry, and despite actually being based in California, he is our biggest sponsor. His generosity has provided the base funds to ensure we can keep ticking over each year.
“It would be great to get consistent and broader support from the industry - especially as we move into the next chapter of the site, which will cover off the next phase of the thoroughbred journey; raising young horses and the sale process. The fourth instalment will be the educating and pre-training journey that horses take, and then of course - the vital second career lives of off the track thoroughbreds. We look forward to bringing those parts to life.”
