‘It’s in everyone’s benefit if we breed a better horse’: Mick Price on soundness and transparency

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

It’s a basic tenet of racing that a horse cannot win if it is not sound enough to compete. Reaching the racetrack is only the starting point; sustaining performance over multiple seasons is the greater challenge. With strong prizemoney for older horses, many trainers are increasingly turning to sports science to support durability and extend racing careers.

“Soundness is an absolute multitude of factors, and we have sports science with data readers on your horses, and I think the breeders have got a lot better since x-rays have come in at producing a better product for the end user,” said trainer Mick Price.

A better product for the end user

Sustained racing careers benefit everyone. Horses who compete across multiple seasons not only enhance their own welfare outcomes, but also deliver greater value to owners and stronger engagement for fans. Recent history offers clear examples: Winx (Street Cry {Ire}), Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) and Ka Ying Rising (NZ) (Shamexpress {NZ}) all raced across multiple seasons, building followings that extended well beyond a single campaign.

Japan markets their racing with “hero is coming”, putting the horse at the centre of their marketing slogans. And so, how do we create horses, who are not only champions, but champions who last and can pull crowds back to the races?

Mick Price has an idea that warrants consideration, drawing inspiration from Germany.

“I would love to see the Stud Book introduce an A category for broodmares and stallions - an added layer of quality control. I understand the German Stud Book operates under stricter standards than we do.

“I’m not suggesting we restrict Australian Stud Book numbers in any way. Rather, if there were a recognised category for soundness, it could provide an incentive for people to aspire to that level,” Price said.

Germany is a much smaller breeding nation to Australia, with 1500 broodmares and 50 stallions. Australia has 19,200 broodmares and 440 stallions.

The German Stud Book states their aspirations that extend beyond horse racing, looking on into their post-racing career:

“The breeding objective is a sound thoroughbred horse bred for speed, stamina, endurance, commitment and toughness in the highest performance, displaying nobility and enough substance in bone and body which, moreover, due to its character, harmony in conformation and its naturally elegant, fluent and supple movement can be employed for breeding programmes in warmblood populations as well as be used as a riding horse.”

To meet those objectives, Germany limits approval to stallions who have achieved a rating of 110 or higher on the World Thoroughbred Rankings, raced across more than one season, and passed a conformation assessment scored across a 30-point system.

Australia allows the marketplace to determine suitability for stud. Stallions stand based on commercial demand, with breeders weighing performance, pedigree, physical type, race record and service fee when making mating decisions.

A market-led system has also allowed horses like Danzig (USA), who raced only three times, winning each start, to retire to stud and ultimately sire Danehill (USA), one of the most influential stallions of the modern era.

Under Germany’s more prescriptive criteria, a horse with such a brief race record may not have qualified. Racing history shows that successful sires have emerged from a wide range of racing profiles, from lightly raced horses like Danzig to durable performers such as Lonhro, who won 26 of his 35 starts.

Determination of a soundness category

If Australia was to add a soundness category to the Stud Book, how do we determine which horses get the A standard?

“If he retired to stud with no knee surgery, no fetlock surgery, no throat surgery, and you could add a soundness category in the stud book and say this horse retired sound, if you stamp them with an A, and they were A breeder, and the mare was also A, you would actually get more for your product,” said Price.

“It doesn't mean to say you'd get less if they weren't an A grader because of the variables in the game. We all understand them, but I just think as an attempt to evolve in a better way. It would be interesting if there was the chase for a better standard.”

All this data exists. One third of all foals born in Australia go through a yearling sale, and they all undergo a scope with most of them also getting a full set of x-rays. The steward’s reports often mention if a horse has had a surgery between it’s last start and it’s current one.

“Mick Price is dead right. Everyone wants to know where these horses have been, where they have been reared, and what's happened to them,” Bhima Thoroughbreds’ Mike Fleming said.

All of Bhima’s yearlings are uploaded to the Kick Sales Platform where potential buyers can access all their soundness and ownership information.

“We wanted to be transparent, and disclose everything, from ownership to where they were reared, where they've been, with all that information on the one platform. Obviously on there we have x-rays and any joint surgeries are all notified.”

“I think it's something that you probably can't take too far.

“The biggest challenge is the cost to the breeder. Do they upload the information into the Stud Book themselves like an honesty policy, or would it be a more integrated method?”

Breeders typically consider disclosure at the point of sale, when yearlings are prepared for market. Price’s suggestion, however, relates to the opposite end of the horse’s career - with surgical or performance history recorded at retirement. In that scenario, responsibility for the accuracy of any data would logically sit with the trainer or managing stable rather than the breeder.

“The scope on a yearling can be clean. When he's a roarer two years later, that's the information we need to use. The devil's in the detail, you'd have to establish some criteria.

“You'd have to say, if he was a roarer, he can’t be category A grade. If you suffered an EIPH attack, you can't be an A grader. Or if you've had if you've had a history of knee surgery, you can't be an A grader.

“It would improve the end product in the game,” said Price.

“And the problem is the end user, we all suffer. But if we can look after the end user better, the industry will be better.”

Who is responsible for ensuring accuracy?

If trainers were to upload any surgeries against the horse into Racing Australia, which also runs the Australian Stud Book, how much impact would this have on the choices that breeders make? Breeders already make mating decisions on multiple factors.

“I want to emphasise that I'm not talking about restricting any number at any way because the variable where the good stallion who had a bleed or he’s a roarer can also be one who consistently gets Group 1 horses,” said Price.

One of the big issues is transparency. “I just don't know how you police it. We are in an industry where 100% transparency is not always profitable,” said Fleming.

Bhima Thoroughbreds have been using the Kick Sales Platform for five years, and in that time have sold Group 1 winners such as Imperatriz (I Am Invincible), Militarize (Dundeel {NZ}), Tropical Squall (Prized Icon), and Forbidden Love (All Too Hard).

“I think from an industry point of view, I don't think we could supply too much information. For the last 5 years on the sales platform, we've supplied two scope reports, two x-ray reports, and uploaded that information into the platform. It's quite amazing how much traction this platform still creates.

“It’s a little bit like buying a house, you can go and get a builder's report. You can get a pest inspection. You can do a title search and you know exactly who owns that horse. If we're buying a horse, we should know exactly who benefits from buying that horse.”

But how much of this is genetic?

The original premise is that holding a standard against sires and broodmares in the Stud Book assumes that soundness is genetic.

Is it that simple or does soundness have other factors? How much is dependant on how a horse is raised, what they are fed, what land they run on? It's the age-old question of genetics versus environment.

“What you could exclude from an A category is EIPH, or stallions and horses that don't pass the scope. These things are genetically passed on all the time,” Price said.

In April 2025, the University College Dublin has made a major breakthrough in identifying genes that raise a horse’s risk of developing recurrent laryngeal neuropathy (RLN), the cause for laryngeal hemiplegia (roaring).

“We found in this study that the genetic contribution is up to 40 per cent, so this means that genes explain a reasonable portion of the reason for a horse developing RLN,” Professor Emmeline Hill said.

“Certainly, a lot of trainers and a lot of agents believe it is hereditary from the sire point of view. Some sires have (progeny who) have more throat surgeries than others. Should that be loaded up into the Stud Book? And who pays for that?” said Fleming.

For many breeders and trainers, a 40% risk of developing RLN is too high while for others, the transmission of speed is more important.

“Speed is hereditary,” said Coolmore’s Colm Santry, in our piece on the G1 Lightning Stakes earlier this week.

Mick Price understands that this is not a simple topic.

“You buy from a good farm and there's two things about testing a farm. One is longevity, because if you get longevity, you've got a farm that has bred a horse with good cartilage, good bone, and good synovial fluid.

“If that farm doesn't have the DNA, then they can't probably get their horse to a good level. But if that farm has two things. The ability to raise a horse with good longevity and a good pedigree, then you're going to get some very, very good horses,” said Price.

“Racehorses are amazing creatures and we're learning a bit more all the time. I've seen the introduction of x-rays and the cancelling out of anabolic steroids in yearlings, and it's been such a benefit to the industry.

“We're all end users - including breeders, as they are massive percentage of owners.

“It’s in everyone's benefit that we can breed a better horse.”

Whether through formal classification, enhanced disclosure at sale, or continued market-led evolution, the objective remains aligned: improving durability without compromising commercial freedom.

The mechanics are complex.

As always, the Thoroughbred industry thrives on robust discussion. We welcome feedback from breeders, trainers, buyers and veterinarians - including dissenting views - on the role (if any) that disclosure should play in breeding.