There is an iconic Bob Dylan song, ‘The times They Are a-Changin’, which contains the words, “and admit that the waters around you have grown, and accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to the bone.” It is a sentiment that can very much be applied to the thoroughbred breeding industry, providing a warning to those that cannot embrace change necessary to both survive and navigate those waters.
Over the past year, I have written Leaders on several of the changes that are or will become a responsibility and imposition upon the British and international breeding communities. I thought this column, at this time of year, was a good place to remind everyone of what lies ahead.
Let’s start with the obvious: the industry is underfunded and undercapitalised, funding pays for the day-to-day operations, and only capital will allow the restructure and investment required to bring racing into a place where its social licence to operate isn’t in question. There are numerous major projects essential for the industry to progress – ignoring these would be a high-risk strategy and almost certainly terminal for our sport.
Top of that list of projects is a fully funded and delivered welfare strategy that is accountable to Minette Batters, the recently appointed Chair of the Horse Welfare Board. She is the ideal person to lead and drive this forward – and it can’t come soon enough. The new demographics racing needs to attract to secure engagement are Gen Z and the Millennials, as Project Beacon has confirmed – these groups have identified welfare and the use of horses in sport as a concern.
Allied to welfare is progress in the development of technological systems for traceability purposes, referred to in my January leader. The industry needs to be fully accountable for the horses it both breeds and races from ‘cradle to grave’; agriculture already has this with farm livestock, so anyone who thinks thoroughbred breeding can be exempted is on another planet. This will come with significant development costs and additional scrutiny for breeders and future owners of every thoroughbred.
My September Leader discussed genetic compromise in the thoroughbred. It is a fact that in any closed breeding community, inbreeding is an issue. Once the population in the community declines, it becomes a bigger issue; available stallions in the UK have fallen by 250% in 20 years and the mare population is contracting at the same time. Our herd is smaller and at high risk and we should not rule out the possibility of intervention to ensure the breed’s survival. Breeders are going to have to recognise this and accept the potential of limitations upon how matings are planned. Common sense suggests that help and financial support will be necessary to ensure the thoroughbred herd is in a better place in 2046 than today.
A contradiction in terms to the above is the need to stimulate a fast-declining foal crop whilst respecting the genetic challenges the breed faces. Income is dependent upon betting turnover and to achieve this, competitive and compelling racing must be staged, determined by field sizes. So here we have a double-edged sword – the first step must be to shape a racing programme that aligns with the horse population and this will inevitably mean a reduction in the fixture list.
That isn’t as simple as it sounds, as British racing income is driven as a turnover model and less racing initially will mean less income – capital support will be essential to nurse the industry through some difficult times. Any change can only be achieved by a commercial approach to and with the racecourses that may own these fixtures, whilst at the same time underwriting the breeding industry with financial incentives to provide the right horses in the right number and with the right genetic profile.
There are other issues to face too, with people/recruitment a pressing one, but until we can offer an industry that is fit for purpose and encourages investment, then all we do is move the chairs around. Without wanting to sound like a broken record, transformational funding and the introduction of significant capital is essential to secure a progressive future.
The positive is that we have the product, the purpose and a level of excellence that the rest of the world envies. We can capitalise on these points, but no one should underestimate the change required to deliver this bright tomorrow.
As Dylan so rightly sings, “and you better stat swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times they are a-changing.”
