AndyPandy
Well-Known Member
Is this the first real chance that the TB ban on AI will be lifted? I feel optimistic!
Reposted from "The Virtual FormGuide":
Thoroughbred breeder Bruce McHugh's court case against the Australian Stud Book proprietors AJC and VRC together with the Australian Racing Board and Racing Information Services Australia (RISA) has the potential to change breeding practices worldwide.
Essentially McHugh is alleging breaches of Australia's Trade Practices Act in that the defendants have conspired together to prevent thoroughbreds conceived through artificial insemination from racing.
McHugh points out that no other creature (including humans) is prevented from participating in races due to the circumstances of its conception and that there is no good reason for Australian racing authorities to do so.
In fact McHugh asserts that it is a restriction on his ability to trade as a breeder to enforce a ban on artificial insemination by way of refusing to register the resulting foal in the Australian Stud Book.
Critics of McHugh's approach make the false assertion that admitting such horses into the Stud Book would mean that all other Australian bred horses would be prevented from racing or breeding overseas.
There are a number of reasons why this argument has no validity :-
* Australia produces the second biggest crop of thoroughbred foals in the world. It is ludicrous to think that this gives Australia no influence with the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.
* Most countries have similar legislation to the TPA. As McHugh says "this is a Trade Practices action - all racing countries will be watching it as a test case". There are many breeders in other countries who share McHugh's view that AI should be permitted. An Australian judgment in McHugh's favour will be an important precedent to removing such restrictions elsewhere.
* The number of Australian horses "exported" each year is reputedly 2,600 - only one sixth of the foal crop in any case. Why the breeders of 83% of thoroughbreds should be dictated to by the minority is open to question.
* The IFHA is an unelected and independent body with about the same status as FIFA or the International Cricket Council. It has no statutory right to dictate the laws of any country and frankly cannot control the way that the TPA works in Australia.
* The stated Australian horse export figures are overstated as they include many horses that are not breeding stock as well as many that are imported and then exported again eg New Zealand mares, shuttle stallions and horses that race overseas and then return.
In any case, McHugh proposes setting up his own Pure Bred Studbook to be managed by a recognised authority such as the Australian Standardbred Studbook, which also happens to be an expert on AI procedures.
The Australian Studbook rejected McHugh's offer to partner with him in this project, where he proposed the creation of a third stud book for them to manage alongside the main Stud Book and the Non-thoroughbred Stud Book.
Perhaps one of the reasons that his offer was rejected was that the Australian Stud Book would have to revise some of its more ridiculous rules, such as the one preventing a horse breeder from breeding any AI foals of other breeds on his stud with the ASB reserving the right to refuse registration of his thoroughbred foals even when produced by natural service.
This and other restrictions imposed by the Australian Racing Board (Rules Of Racing prohibit any horse not registered with the ASB from racing) and RISA (registration is impossible for non-ASB horses) mean that the various bodies are alleged to have colluded with each other to enforce a monopoly on thoroughbred registration by the ASB.
McHugh's Pure Bred Studbook would provide a registration service and DNA testing at considerably lower cost than the ASB's current charges. For breeders, especially at the lower cost end of the scale, additional benefits such as lower transport and agistment charges, reduced veterinary fees and elimination of the "damage in transit" to mares and foals with improve their profitability.
The Pure Bred Studbook provides the perfect solution to the ASB's complaint of non-eligibility of Australian horses to the international market. There is of course nothing to stop bigger breeders or those small breeders who want to send their stock overseas from continuing to register their matings and foals with the ASB.
As far as I can see, the IFHA wants to only recognise one stud book in each country for the purpose of international racing and breeding. There is no reason why the ASB cannot continue to provide that service for the 16% of Australian bred horses suitable for the international market.
For the 83% representing purely Australian domestic racing and breeding, the Pure Bred Studbook would provide an equally acceptable service at a much lower cost. There is of course no reason why horses could not be dual registered.
The other argument against AI is its widespread use will compress the gene pool and encourage inbreeding.
Well the natural service regime has quite happily accepted a halving in the number of stallions standing at stud over the past few years with no apparent concern for the sanctity of the gene pool.
Simultaneously breeders are being encouraged to actively cull non-black type mares which represent 95% of the female breeding stock. Again no regard for genetic diversity and a stupid argument anyway because even if the whole 95% of "non-commercial" mares were eliminated, only 5% of the remaining group would then be black type because by definition that represents the top 5% of the thoroughbred population.
The standardbred authorities have permitted AI for decades now with no apparent ill effects on that breed, which suggests that the whole argument is a furphy.
Another argument advanced by Peter McGauran the CEO of Thoroughbred Breeders Australia, is that frozen horse semen results in sub-standard fertility compared to natural service.
There is no requirement to freeze semen for Australian based stallions, as chilled semen with much higher fertility can be transported all around the country in a few hours. Frozen semen is more of an issue for Northern Hemisphere based stallions, which are the ones currently being shuttled.
These stallions dominate the high value service fee end of the market, which in turn McGauran speaks for. There is no reason why they cannot continue to shuttle, provide natural service and the resulting progeny be registered by the ASB.
The owners of such stallions might of course appreciate the lower cost and risk to the stallion of transporting its semen rather than the horse, in which case they would be able to participate in the new low cost breeding environment.
Of course they can also refuse to be part of it, meaning that multi-millionaires can keep sending mares to each other's stallions and then buying the resulting progeny from each other at artificially inflated prices in the sale ring and lose money by racing them.
The rest of the breeders will look on with amused detachment.
McHugh is confident that his case will succeed.
"If this action is successful in Australia, all countries with similar legal systems will follow", he says.
"The international agreement to ban artificial insemination will not survive."
"Thoroughbreds are the only domestic animals on the planet where artificial insemination is banned".
"A win in this action will bring thoroughbred breeding into the 21st century."
"In years to come, people will wonder why it took so long."
Reposted from "The Virtual FormGuide":
Thoroughbred breeder Bruce McHugh's court case against the Australian Stud Book proprietors AJC and VRC together with the Australian Racing Board and Racing Information Services Australia (RISA) has the potential to change breeding practices worldwide.
Essentially McHugh is alleging breaches of Australia's Trade Practices Act in that the defendants have conspired together to prevent thoroughbreds conceived through artificial insemination from racing.
McHugh points out that no other creature (including humans) is prevented from participating in races due to the circumstances of its conception and that there is no good reason for Australian racing authorities to do so.
In fact McHugh asserts that it is a restriction on his ability to trade as a breeder to enforce a ban on artificial insemination by way of refusing to register the resulting foal in the Australian Stud Book.
Critics of McHugh's approach make the false assertion that admitting such horses into the Stud Book would mean that all other Australian bred horses would be prevented from racing or breeding overseas.
There are a number of reasons why this argument has no validity :-
* Australia produces the second biggest crop of thoroughbred foals in the world. It is ludicrous to think that this gives Australia no influence with the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.
* Most countries have similar legislation to the TPA. As McHugh says "this is a Trade Practices action - all racing countries will be watching it as a test case". There are many breeders in other countries who share McHugh's view that AI should be permitted. An Australian judgment in McHugh's favour will be an important precedent to removing such restrictions elsewhere.
* The number of Australian horses "exported" each year is reputedly 2,600 - only one sixth of the foal crop in any case. Why the breeders of 83% of thoroughbreds should be dictated to by the minority is open to question.
* The IFHA is an unelected and independent body with about the same status as FIFA or the International Cricket Council. It has no statutory right to dictate the laws of any country and frankly cannot control the way that the TPA works in Australia.
* The stated Australian horse export figures are overstated as they include many horses that are not breeding stock as well as many that are imported and then exported again eg New Zealand mares, shuttle stallions and horses that race overseas and then return.
In any case, McHugh proposes setting up his own Pure Bred Studbook to be managed by a recognised authority such as the Australian Standardbred Studbook, which also happens to be an expert on AI procedures.
The Australian Studbook rejected McHugh's offer to partner with him in this project, where he proposed the creation of a third stud book for them to manage alongside the main Stud Book and the Non-thoroughbred Stud Book.
Perhaps one of the reasons that his offer was rejected was that the Australian Stud Book would have to revise some of its more ridiculous rules, such as the one preventing a horse breeder from breeding any AI foals of other breeds on his stud with the ASB reserving the right to refuse registration of his thoroughbred foals even when produced by natural service.
This and other restrictions imposed by the Australian Racing Board (Rules Of Racing prohibit any horse not registered with the ASB from racing) and RISA (registration is impossible for non-ASB horses) mean that the various bodies are alleged to have colluded with each other to enforce a monopoly on thoroughbred registration by the ASB.
McHugh's Pure Bred Studbook would provide a registration service and DNA testing at considerably lower cost than the ASB's current charges. For breeders, especially at the lower cost end of the scale, additional benefits such as lower transport and agistment charges, reduced veterinary fees and elimination of the "damage in transit" to mares and foals with improve their profitability.
The Pure Bred Studbook provides the perfect solution to the ASB's complaint of non-eligibility of Australian horses to the international market. There is of course nothing to stop bigger breeders or those small breeders who want to send their stock overseas from continuing to register their matings and foals with the ASB.
As far as I can see, the IFHA wants to only recognise one stud book in each country for the purpose of international racing and breeding. There is no reason why the ASB cannot continue to provide that service for the 16% of Australian bred horses suitable for the international market.
For the 83% representing purely Australian domestic racing and breeding, the Pure Bred Studbook would provide an equally acceptable service at a much lower cost. There is of course no reason why horses could not be dual registered.
The other argument against AI is its widespread use will compress the gene pool and encourage inbreeding.
Well the natural service regime has quite happily accepted a halving in the number of stallions standing at stud over the past few years with no apparent concern for the sanctity of the gene pool.
Simultaneously breeders are being encouraged to actively cull non-black type mares which represent 95% of the female breeding stock. Again no regard for genetic diversity and a stupid argument anyway because even if the whole 95% of "non-commercial" mares were eliminated, only 5% of the remaining group would then be black type because by definition that represents the top 5% of the thoroughbred population.
The standardbred authorities have permitted AI for decades now with no apparent ill effects on that breed, which suggests that the whole argument is a furphy.
Another argument advanced by Peter McGauran the CEO of Thoroughbred Breeders Australia, is that frozen horse semen results in sub-standard fertility compared to natural service.
There is no requirement to freeze semen for Australian based stallions, as chilled semen with much higher fertility can be transported all around the country in a few hours. Frozen semen is more of an issue for Northern Hemisphere based stallions, which are the ones currently being shuttled.
These stallions dominate the high value service fee end of the market, which in turn McGauran speaks for. There is no reason why they cannot continue to shuttle, provide natural service and the resulting progeny be registered by the ASB.
The owners of such stallions might of course appreciate the lower cost and risk to the stallion of transporting its semen rather than the horse, in which case they would be able to participate in the new low cost breeding environment.
Of course they can also refuse to be part of it, meaning that multi-millionaires can keep sending mares to each other's stallions and then buying the resulting progeny from each other at artificially inflated prices in the sale ring and lose money by racing them.
The rest of the breeders will look on with amused detachment.
McHugh is confident that his case will succeed.
"If this action is successful in Australia, all countries with similar legal systems will follow", he says.
"The international agreement to ban artificial insemination will not survive."
"Thoroughbreds are the only domestic animals on the planet where artificial insemination is banned".
"A win in this action will bring thoroughbred breeding into the 21st century."
"In years to come, people will wonder why it took so long."
