Colin Bryce, owner of Laundry Cottage Stud
Perhaps the question should be ‘what can be done quickly to make me decide not to breed less?’ The small breeder in the UK faces a trading environment of poor prize- money, fewer buyers and rising costs. Only the deep-pocketed love of animal husbandry keeps the show just about on the road.
A good return breeding racehorses is elusive. Only the top, elite end of the market offers a reward that is commensurate with the risk that a mare owner takes. Yet, we know that even at the top end the market is mega selective and the very few buyers in that range pick and choose. Perhaps it is fine for a breeder with a portfolio of top stallion offspring to enter that fray, but for the smaller breeder, sticking one’s neck out and buying a £75k-plus nomination is a move loaded with risk.
So, what could be done to incentivise more breeding? One part of the answer, if we are to be realistic and rule out any progress on prize-money or government-funded tax breaks, must be more attention to risk management. Data will help.
For example, stallion success statistics moderated by the quality of their book, paying attention to nicks (it was the Galileo – Danehill nick that we targeted to breed Via Sistina), widely available advice on good pasture and grassland management, veterinary, nutrition and farriery knowledge disseminated to breeders, exploring risk sharing with stallion owners (foal sharing and other creative arrangements that trade equity for a lessening of risk) etc. Pushing the odds of an acceptable sale in one’s favour is the key. If that can happen, we might see our way to breeding more mares.
More important, though, is the other element in the answer: prize-money. The racing industry in the UK is in crisis, led by National Hunt racing with the Flat in the van. One wonders what is the interminable delay in the appointment of a BHA CEO and Board – hopefully of folks with ‘skin in the game’ – about? Their leadership is critical to address the problems of an industry in decline and to advance implementation of brilliant initiatives such as Project Pace, which would have a very positive effect on prize-money and offer buoyancy to the breeding business.
We need to use data creatively, manage the many risks inherent in breeding racehorses and, to solve the prize-money issue, we require a creatively led industry and a renewed racing product.
Then we can breed more mares!
Yvonne Jacques, owner who breeds as Carisbrooke Stud
When asked what would encourage me to produce more racehorses, I like to begin with the positives, because there are so many.
My passion for breeding comes from a lifelong love of the thoroughbred. Living and working on my stud, surrounded by mares, foals, and yearlings in peaceful and beautiful surroundings, is a privilege I treasure. The thrill and pride of seeing a homebred win – no matter who owns it – is incomparable.
Since founding Carisbrooke Stud in 2017, my ambition has always been to breed a Group 1 winner, and then another, and another! Like all breeders and owners, we are eternal optimists, driven by passion and the dream of producing that next champion. However, the current economic climate presents real challenges for smaller owner-breeders. Breeding is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain financially. Nonetheless, I believe that with the right support and incentives, the future of British breeding can remain vibrant and strong.
Financial incentives to help balance sales trends would be transformative. Many breeders struggle to achieve even the stallion covering fee at the sales, before considering the substantial costs of rearing and preparing foals and yearlings. Initiatives such as the Stradivarius fee incentive, introduced by Bjorn Nielsen, offer creative ways forward, and wider adoption of such ideas would make a real difference.
The Great British Bonus (GBB) scheme has been a tremendous success for fillies, and further breeder-based rewards for racing performance would be warmly welcomed. Although we lack the French-style breeders’ premiums, exploring new funding models – perhaps through greater transparency in media and racecourse revenues – could provide resources for enhanced prize-money and breeder support.
More fillies-only races across the programme would also be a significant step in strengthening the breeding landscape. Each year, we carefully select our stallions, balancing performance goals with market trends. Despite the pressures, we remain committed, because breeding is not just a business, it is a way of life. And like all in this wonderful industry, we live in hope that our next foal might just be the one to make our dreams come true
David Redvers, owner and manager of Tweenhills Farm and Stud
I suppose the issue is not what would encourage ‘me’, as I am inflicted with a natural optimism and have the benefit of an outstanding set-up, rather, what would encourage more owners to breed. There is a desperate shortage of owners prepared to play the long game and breed from their good fillies in the hope of creating families. The old owner-breeder is a dying breed.
National Hunt breeding, in particular, in the UK has gone beyond being in a perilous state and ditching breeders’ prizes had brought around a terminal decline. You only have to look at the dominance of French breeding in that sector to see how breeders’ premiums and a developmental race programme have promoted the French breed to prominence in our industry.
Every other successful thoroughbred breeding country/state in the world enables their breeding industry to flourish through incentivising breeders’ premiums. We have the Great British Bonus, which does great service to British breeders, but it’s too little too late for the National Hunt game and it’s only just about keeping the Flat breeders going. The scheme isn’t meaty enough to incentivise behaviour change and encourage owners to keep fillies and breed from them. This is what we need if we are going to reverse the decline.
Jackie Chugg, owner of Little Lodge Farm, renowned producer of NH stock
The old adage, ‘Fools breed them for wise men to buy’, was one of my late husband’s favourite quotes and it’s becoming a reality for NH breeders. We’re in dire straits. No one’s going to keep doing it for a loss.
In October, I took seven to Goffs for the Breeders Showcase Sale – four of my own foals, two foals for clients and a mare for client. They all sold – five went to Ireland – but none of them covered their costs of production.
I took two foals to the 2024 Goffs January Sale and they topped the sale at £68,000 each. I went back this year with the two half-brothers by Nathaniel and never had a bid for either. The Irish have become very selective – we cannot compete with them.
At the same time, our overheads have gone up massively, vet and farrier fees have multiplied along with labour costs, while the prices [at auction] have contracted.
The Great British Bonus is an excellent scheme for fillies, but we need an incentive for British trainers to buy British-bred geldings. A nice foal by a good sire with a decent pedigree will always be bought by an Irishman – there are very few English pinhookers left. Where are the young people coming into the game?
Brexit has meant that the cost of transporting horses has more than doubled. We need to do something to free up the movement of horses. Doncaster gave £500 towards the cost of any foal transported back to Ireland.
In Ireland, they all offer filly foal concessions to NH breeders. So, you’re paying half up front and only pay the other half if you get a colt.
British stallions have to do it the hard way from smaller books. Frontiersman is now breaking through – he throws lovely stock – but we’ve had to wait five or six years for that. Time is money.
When Master Oats won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Scarlet and Robin Knipe received a £30,000 breeders’ prize. Twenty years ago, if you bred a winner of a chase, you’d get a £3,000 or £4,000 breeders’ prize. Now you get nothing. When The New Lion won the Grade 1 at Cheltenham, we didn’t get as much as a small memento!
The juvenile three-year-old hurdle races have been one positive step – trainers look like they might be cottoning on now.
Everyone here agrees that there must be an incentive for people to buy British-bred geldings. Only then could you think about breeding more mares.
