Breeding Drain or Racing Gain: How do we encourage buying local?

Cover image courtesy of Irish Thoroughbred Marketing

We can’t turn off the tap on imported European stayers, so how do we convince owners to buy local instead? What can we learn from the practices of other countries bidding to keep more money in the domestic market?

On Saturday, the inaugural running of the Listed Pat Smullen Stakes took place at Naas, attracting a field of eight juveniles for the 1600-metre contest; Daytona (Ire), a son of shuttle sire Wootton Bassett (GB), took out the event by 3.25l to claim a €27,000 ($48,500) first prize. The race is one of 18 middle-distance events for two and 3-year-olds in the new Smullen Series, set up by the Irish European Breeders' Fund in an effort to encourage investment in middle-distance racing.

Each race for the juveniles carries a minimum €25,000 ($45,000) for first place, and aims to put horses on the path to the Irish EBF’s existing Spring Series for 3-year-olds, culminating in the €200,000 ($359,500) Gowran Classic, where the winner will also be awarded free entry to the G1 Irish Derby.

“The objective of the series is to provide breeders, owners, and trainers of middle-distance horses with valuable races for two and 3-year-olds while promoting the breeding and racing of stamina horses,” Irish EBF Chairman Joe Foley told TDN last week.

It is food for thought; when one of the world’s leading producers of middle-distance and staying horses sees the need to encourage growth in that part of the breeding sector, it’s high time for Australia to turn the tide.

Great British bonuses for great British fillies

“Racehorse owners want instant gratification,” is how the import phenomenon has been explained. How do you encourage people to invest not just money at home, but in development time?

Britain is encouraging the home crowd to buy - and breed local. The Great British Bonus scheme is targeted at British-bred fillies and mares in both flat and jump races, with the add-on GBBPlus for stayers putting emphasis on keeping staying blood strong in the country.

The scheme is primarily funded by the Horserace Betting Levy Board, plus scheme registration fees, and promises up to £100,000 ($208,000) in total bonuses for fully British-bred fillies, and £50,000 ($104,000) for foals born in Britain by overseas stallions, with an additional £20,000 ($41,500) available in select races for GBBPlus fillies. Currently a total of £3.5 million ($7.27 million) is available to be handed out per year to eligible horses.

Individual race bonuses start at £5000 ($10,400), and in some cases, the bonus is worth more than the prize for first place. Higher bonuses are assigned to the annual 550 fillies-and-mares races to support the continuation of the race program.

What is particularly novel about the scheme is how many people get a piece of the pie; 65 per cent of the bonus goes to the current registered racing owner, 10 per cent to the breeder, 10 per cent to the yearling owner, 7.5 per cent to the trainer, 5 per cent to the jockey, and 2.5 per cent to the trainer’s stable staff.

The yearling bonus means that pinhookers can get their hand on the ball by registering eligible foals - giving even more reason to get involved at foal sales.

Get them coming back

The Great British Bonus is not the only bonus scheme on offer to local-breds; much in a similar vein to the Inglis Xtra Bonus series, the Tattersalls Book 1 Bonus Scheme offers owners of Book 1 graduates the opportunity to scoop £25,000 ($52,000) in bonuses when winning one of over 300 qualifying maiden or novice juvenile races the following year.

It’s possible to earn from both schemes, as the William Haggas trainee Bintjeddah (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) managed when winning a novice race at Haydock last year. By being eligible for both, she picked up an additional £50,000 ($104,100) for connections on top of prizemoney, which was a good start toward repaying her 220,000gns ($504,200) purchase price.

Arqana developed their own series of races in 2023 for foals, yearlings, and breeze-up 2-year-olds offered through their sales, with prizemoney for both owners and vendors of the winners. What differs most from Australian equivalents is the distance; at Deauville, the juvenile races will be at 1200 and 1400 metres, and at Longchamp, they will stretch to 1600 metres, while the 3-year-old race will be over 2000 metres.

The lucrative owner and breeder premiums schemes in France have long ensured that racing stays an inviting industry to be part of. Intended to ensure broodmares remain primarily based in the country, French-bred horses can earn an additional 75 per cent in owner’s premiums on top of prizemoney in their juvenile and 3-year-old year, which drops to “just” 45 per cent as 4-year-olds and upwards.

Breeders of these horses can be handsomely rewarded as well for their local investment, earning a 13 per cent premium based on the horse’s prizemoney and owner’s premium if their horse is full French bred. Premiums are even extended to French horses that win overseas - but with an annual limit of €15,000 ($27,000) per horse, you will earn more staying at home.

Keep the money going round

Horse Racing Ireland has devised another way to keep owners interested in local stock with the IRE Incentive Scheme. Conceived in collaboration with Irish Thoroughbred Marketing and the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association, the scheme is in its fifth year and awards a €10,000 ($18,000) sales voucher to the owners of winning Irish-bred horses in over 200 races across Ireland and Britain.

Over €1 million ($1.8 million) worth of vouchers was awarded in the scheme’s first year, which contributed to more than €4 million ($7.19 million) in sales of Irish-bred horses the following year.

“The IRE Incentive bonuses keep the money going round and round within racing, giving everyone a lift, the owner, the trainer, the vendor,” intercontinental owner Bev Hendry told thoroughbredracing.com in April.

Hendry used an IRE Incentive voucher won by his filly Kylie Of Lochalsh (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}) to purchase Irish Incentive (Ire) (Starman {GB}) for €25,000 at last year’s Goffs Orby Sale.

“I’m a big fan of it. It’s the perfect thing for an owner buying up to the mid-market. You might call it a big incentive for someone like me, and it works really well.”

Various Australian state-based schemes offer the option to double your bonus in vouchers instead, but the IRE Incentive insists upon it, and winners are given a year to spend their voucher at the sales.

Focus on future stayers

2025 marks 10 years of the £250,000 ($521,000) British EBF Future Stayers Series, which has a program of 12 races restricted to progeny of sires and dams who ran over 2000 metres or more. Each race’s minimum prize value is £20,000 ($41,500), with approximately 10 per cent of the series’ runners going on to gain black-type. Multiple Group 1-winning stallions Cracksman (GB) and Stradivarius (Ire) are both graduates of the series.

Gallery: Multiple Group 1-winning stallions who are graduates of the British EBF Future Stayers Series

The British Horseracing Authority has also devised and funded a series of developmental races in collaboration with the Levy Board, Tattersalls, the British EBF, and major breeding operations Juddmonte and Darley, to offer increased prizemoney early in a horse’s career.

The series of 85 races covers three areas; maiden and novice races for juveniles, restricted juvenile races for yearlings purchased at the lower end of the market, and 3-year-old maiden and novice races targeted at developing stayers. Each race can be worth £30,000 ($63,000) to £40,000 ($83,000) to the winner. The series recognises something obvious; returns early in a horse’s racing career are important to keep owners in the game.

“It is vital we make owners aware that there is good prizemoney on offer here,” EBF Chief Executive Kerry Murphy told theownerbreeder.com last year.

“This collaboration from the bloodstock industry is a real positive. The negativity around our prizemoney has become something of a theme. We felt that if there was a whole series of races from spring through to autumn, then it would go a long way to answering that narrative."

“Even on a global scale, the amount being won compares favourably with jurisdictions which people regard as the ‘poster boys’ of prizemoney,” former Tattersalls Marketing Director Jimmy George added in the same article.

The New York Racing Association has had similar ideas; TDN reported in 2018 about the continuation of their long-distance racing bonus program, with bonuses of up to US$15,000 ($22,900) enhancing prizemoney for races over 2000 metres or more to US$90,000 ($137,000), for the Belmont Spring/Summer meeting that year. In the first year of the bonus scheme, the fields saw on average one more horse entered than the same races in the previous season.

“Owners and trainers are clearly interested in these races, and we're pleased that the program has gained momentum over the last year,” Martin Panza, senior director of racing operations for NYRA, said at the time. “We continue to be one of the only circuits offering these races and we look forward to building the program even further.”

The NYRA’s commitment to middle-distance horses continues in 2025, with 32 of the 54 black-type or feature races across Belmont Park’s spring and summer schedule running over a mile or more.

Royal Ascot holds two pathways for middle-distance-bred horses to compete as juveniles; the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes (from 2026) is restricted to horses whose sire won over 1400 metres or further a 2-year-old, or 1600 metres or beyond as a 3-year-old, and the Listed Chesham Stakes is similar, restricted to the progeny of sires or dams who won at 1900 metres or beyond. Sires Churchill (Ire) and Pinatubo (Ire) were both winners of the Chesham, and in 2025 the Listed contest went to Humidity (GB) (Ulysses {Ire}).

Japan’s tariffs make buying at home appealing

Despite a population five times that of Australia and a matching thirst for racing, Japan trades far less yearlings and imports very few horses permanently at all.

In 2024, Arion reports that 1950 yearlings were catalogued for public auction by the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders' Association and the Japan Racing Horse Association, where 5637 yearlings were catalogued for in-person sales in Australia this year, accounting for 44.9 per cent of the foal crop.

There were 7795 thoroughbred foals registered in Japan in 2023 according to the JRA, with 25 per cent making it to an auction catalogue.

This number has seen far less fluctuation than the Australian foal crop; 20 years ago in 2005, the Japanese foal crop was almost identical at 7930 registered foals. Breeding reached its zenith in the early nineties, recording 10,309 foals in 1992.

A small amount of yearlings are imported from Australia to Japan annually - likely to be expected, given the hemisphere foaling difference. However, another for this is the tariff put on thoroughbreds being imported into the country; it stands at a flat ¥3.4 million ($36,000) for horses intending to race or that are in foal.

While this is a small number if you’re spending $3.2 million - as Mitsu Nakauchida did at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January when buying the Home Affairs filly out of Sunlight (Zoustar) - the numbers quickly start to become unappealing to a smaller buyer.

The other 11 yearlings exported to Japan from Australia in 2025 averaged $165,455 each - adding $36,000 plus an assumed $50,000 in vetting and exportation costs, that quickly becomes over $250,000.

The cheapest Japan-bound yearling cost $70,000 at auction, meaning its purchase price more than doubles with export costs and tariffs. Ultimately, if you’re looking to race a horse in Japan, it’s a lot cheaper and a lot more viable to purchase in-house.

Geldings and active racehorses very rarely make the trip to Japan, and usually this is a brief visit to compete in a set black-type race. Japan only features a small number of “international” races open to outside racehorses, meaning that most races are for domestic horses only or those exported before their first start. It opens the conversation on locking certain races to featuring Australian-bred horses only.

As a side note, United States President Donald Trump’s tariff system introduced earlier this year places a minimum 10 per cent tariff on thoroughbreds entering the country, excluding those from Canada and Mexico. We are yet to see what toll this may take on the bloodstock market.

Putting together solutions

Reflecting on the world’s methods of keeping local investment strong, there is a number of routes to be taken.

The thought of placing tariffs on European imports could be appealing as both a deterrent for some importers and an additional moneymaker for the country - particularly to pay for their next 12-20 years of non-racing life, but it wouldn’t be straightforward. We still need the flow of outside blood into the breeding population of Australia, so it would need to be restricted to geldings.

And when we still want our racing to be on the world stage, would it reduce the quality of our competition? Would a reduction in European-breds increase wagering, as more familiar names are seen in the racebook?

Hong Kong offers one solution; horses brought into Hong Kong are charged a HK$100,000 ($19,400) import fee that is reimbursed if the horse leaves after racing, otherwise it goes towards that horse’s retirement and retraining. This could be a way to ensure that imports entering the country will not place an additional burden on an already stressed aftercare system.

If the funds to make this possible are hard to generate, there is always the thought that prizemoney can be redistributed - and we'll be conducting a deep dive on the prizemoney allocations later this week, but as a starting point... what if the $10 million Golden Eagle became the $3 million Golden Eagle, and the difference put towards adding a $70,000 bonus to 100 races for locally-bred middle-distance horses?

What if the G1 Australian Derby was worth double next year, would that make it more of a goal than an afterthought?

We see rewards at the highest level already - Rich Hill Stud are the principle sponsor of New Zealand’s Champion Middle Distance Bonus Series to the tune of $500,000 for the top three runners - but it seems obvious that grassroots support is what is most important to retaining owners and breeders.

Another consideration is unity; the European Breeders' Fund sets a good precedent for ensuring European-bred horses are rewarded for staying with Europe, with branches and registered stallions all throughout the continent.

Unity is severely lacking between Australia’s principle racing authorities, which is something that needs to be addressed if we want to formulate a strong solution to keep money in the domestic market. There are several strong state-based schemes, however no national incentives that focuses on offsetting investment leakage offshore.

It’s clear that a combination of things need to happen; several cogs need to be set into motion at once to see a palpable difference. Enhancing the opportunities for young horses bred to be stayers is fundamental to ensuring they keep being bred. Owners vote with their wallets at the sales, and it is critical to them that they see some return on investment as soon as possible to keep them coming back.

What changes would you like to see to the Australian racing landscape to encourage more domestically-bred middle-distance horses? Send your thoughts or ideas to vicky@ttrausnz.com.au.