Racing Australia announce welfare exemption for denied Thoroughbreds

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

If the point of being a Thoroughbred is to race, then getting as many horses accepted to race as possible is the outcome that every breeder wants. On Thursday, Racing Australia announced that breeders who have had Foal Ownership Declaration (FOD) appeal denied can now appeal for their horse to be reinstated as eligible to race.

This will be done with an Appeal Denied Fee of $2500, and once paid by the new deadline, the previously ineligible foal will become eligible to race. And what happens to those funds? The press release stated, “Any fees paid will be set aside for use for Equine Welfare.”

This new step is only for foals born in 2025 or earlier and for those who have had a previous appeal denied. It is also open to horses who are currently in the appeal process.

This season’s 2026 foals must meet the 30-day deadline or they will be ineligible to race.

“The lodgement of the Foal Ownership Declaration is an important part of our overall horse traceability responsibilities and Owners and Breeders must comply adhere to the relevant Australian Rules of Racing,” Rob Rorrison, Chair of Racing Australia, said.

Improvement in compliance

The Australian Stud Book have had a 30-day deadline for lodging a live foal mare return for decades, but only recently has this been enforced beyond late fees. The introduction of a Foal Ownership Declaration which includes the location of the foal and broodmare was designed to assist with welfare and transparency.

Racing Australia introduced an embargo on racing for foals whose owners hadn’t completed the Foal Ownership Declaration on time last season and backdated this for all foal crops. This rule was introduced as a Rule Of Racing, not a rule of Stud Book, so all ineligible foals are still eligible for the Stud Book, provided they go through the usual DNA-typing process. They can become broodmares or stallions, but not racehorses.

“Our message has been very clear as to how serious an issue this is for the industry and I am pleased to say that the behavioural changes we are now seeing have resulted in the Late Foal Ownership Declarations falling substantially,” Rorrison said.

In March 2026, Racing Australia announced a Late FOD Amnesty for foals born in the 2024 and 2025 seasons, with a deadline of April 14, 2026. This amnesty resulted in many foals having their ‘ineligible to race’ status reinstated back to eligible.

However, there remains 102 horses who are currently ineligible to race, and potentially more if there are unknown horses out there who haven’t begun the process of a Mare Return and subsequent FOD procedure. At the start of this season, Racing Australia expanded this rule to state that these ineligible horses are also ineligible to be trained at a public training facility or be nominated for a trial.

“Notwithstanding that Late FOD Amnesty, there remains 102 outstanding Late Foal Ownership Declarations. As set out in the table below, 28 relate to foals that could have taken advantage of the Late FOD Amnesty having been born in the 2024 and 2025 seasons, with the remaining 74 foals having been born in earlier seasons,” stated the Racing Australia press release.

Denied but now can be reinstated

Racing Australia announced that 61 of the 102 Late FODs have begun their appeal process. In time, some of these will be accepted to race and others will be denied.

TTR spoke to one breeder who didn’t wish to be named who said that their property was affected by a natural disaster and this meant they became behind on their paperwork, but their FOD appeal was denied. Under this announcement, they can rectify this and have their ineligible horses reinstated with their embargoes removed.

“Racing Australia has carefully considered the current position and determined that, subject to payment of a fee, the AR 287 embargo will be lifted for foals born in season 2025 or earlier whose Appeal was denied. This option will only be available at this time, being the first year of strict enforcement of AR 285, AR 286 and AR 287 and is subject to the process and conditions below.”

If you’ve been denied, what do you need to do?

Breeders who have a foal that is ineligible to race due to an appeal being denied will be contacted by Racing Australia. You have 30 days to pay the Appeal Denied Fee of $2500 and your foal will have the racing embargo lifted. If you are not contacted, get on the front foot and call Racing Australia during office hours to be helped through the process.

“Thoroughbred Breeders Australia is also concerned there may be breeders and managing owners who do not yet realise they have missed a Foal Ownership Declaration deadline, and therefore may be unaware that their horse could be facing an embargo,” TBA said in a press release.

“Please do not assume your records are complete.

“Please do not assume everything is up to date. Check each foal, confirm who is responsible for lodging the declaration, and make sure it has been completed within the required timeframe.”

Racing Australia has outlined the dates and process here for utilising the Appeal Denied Fee:

(a) If a Foal Ownership Declaration has already been lodged or is lodged before the Close of Business (5.30pm AEST) on Friday October 9, 2026 (the Deadline);

(b) an Appeal has already been lodged or is lodged before the Close of Business (5.30pm AEST) on Friday November 13, 2026; and

(c) that Appeal has been denied.

If you still have a foal with an outstanding FOD, you have until October 9 to begin the process, appeal the embargo, and wait for a decision on whether your foal is accepted or denied. If the foal is denied, you then have a further 30 days to pay the Appeal Denied Fee to override the denied decision.

“Our message has been very clear as to how serious an issue this is for the industry and I am pleased to say that the behavioural changes we are now seeing have resulted in the Late Foal Ownership Declarations falling substantially,” Rorrison said.

“This final option to lift the embargo will only be offered this year being the initial season of strict enforcement of these rules and remains conditional on an appeal, including all of the information that is required under the Appeal Guidelines being lodged.

“We thank the participants for working with us to achieve this much improved result as we move toward 100% compliance and remind them to continue to fulfill their obligations in the current season.”

While this process continues to punish breeders who are slack at their administration, the core reasoning behind the need to have all foals updated into the system remains valid. Getting a foal, and its ownership and location recorded, increases transparency in the system. It is impossible to oversee the welfare of foals that Racing Australia doesn’t know exist.