Horses Being Sold to the Far and Middle East

UrbanSea

It's about time the BHA look at the prize money situation going on in England.Within the last two years there has been an unusually large amount of good horses being sold out of British stables and gone on to race in the Far and Middle East,a real loss for the sport.
Just today it was announced that Royal Ascot winner and subsequent French gr.2 winner Pisco Sour has been sold out of Hughie Morrison's stable to race in Dubai. Along with that,Charles the Great,who recently won a Wetherby's super sprint race has been sold on to race in Asia. No doubt Coolmore will be happy,as he can raise their profile over there,but it's worrying to see so many good horses leaving.

There are many more yet none can come to me at the minute.

kfallon

I think Start Right was sold out of Cumani's yard just before Goodwood. Loads of horses will end up over there for the 'Dubai Funfair' :rolleyes:

UrbanSea

A few of Botti's have gone as well.


I don't blame them frankly,huge prize money over there and no doubt they got decent offers.but the BHA must have some sort of enticements to ensure some of the best horses are not consistently leaving.

smartaform

well in those other countries Bookies aren't the ruling party in horse racing.

TOTE systems place between 7.5% - 15% (UK and Irish bookies complain about 1.5%) into the industry (prizemoney, facilities etc... YES apart from DUBAI ). I mean the prizemoney in those countries is amazing.

Harry Angstrom

Unless the UK becomes an off-course Tote monopoly, then it's always going to continue to be this way. I remember going to the Arc a few years back and only paying a fiver to get in (including racecard). The following week I went to a godawful meeting in Mallow and paid three times as much to get in, and I had to pay for the racecard after that :mad:.

The only thing that racing in the the UK has going for it is the prestige of racing there. With all due respect to Pisco Sour etc. they're not Frankel, and the fact that horses like Frankel continue to be raced in the UK (even if the prize money is shyte) is because of the fact that UK racing is still regarded as among the best in the world. Racing is always going to be a rich man's game as far as owners are concerned. As Sheikh Mohammed once said, "You've got to spend a big fortune to win a small fortune."

What pisses me off about horses going to the Far East is the way that the new owners are able to change the names of the horses. I remember Daliapour going out there a few years back and racing under a different name. It makes a complete mockery of the stud book.

myfeelings

I agree they need to sort out the prize money because it is crazy how little some of the races are worth.

But seriously are you connected to racing in anyway because trainers love to see horses sold out of there yards regardless of how much they say they dont.

When there sold trainers will get a percentage, the horse will usually have peaked at this time because trainers are trying to sell them so are tuned perfectly for the races and it raises numbers through publicity once again and then it all starts over again

UrbanSea

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

Unless the UK becomes an off-course Tote monopoly, then it's always going to continue to be this way. I remember going to the Arc a few years back and only paying a fiver to get in (including racecard). The following week I went to a godawful meeting in Mallow and paid three times as much to get in, and I had to pay for the racecard after that :mad:.

The only thing that racing in the the UK has going for it is the prestige of racing there. With all due respect to Pisco Sour etc. they're not Frankel, and the fact that horses like Frankel continue to be raced in the UK (even if the prize money is shyte) is because of the fact that UK racing is still regarded as among the best in the world. Racing is always going to be a rich man's game as far as owners are concerned. As Sheikh Mohammed once said, "You've got to spend a big fortune to win a small fortune."

What pisses me off about horses going to the Far East is the way that the new owners are able to change the names of the horses. I remember Daliapour going out there a few years back and racing under a different name. It makes a complete mockery of the stud book.

That's a bit ridiculous. Follow a horse over here and never be able to find it again

myfeelings wrote: »

I agree they need to sort out the prize money because it is crazy how little some of the races are worth.

But seriously are you connected to racing in anyway because trainers love to see horses sold out of there yards regardless of how much they say they dont.

When there sold trainers will get a percentage, the horse will usually have peaked at this time because trainers are trying to sell them so are tuned perfectly for the races and it raises numbers through publicity once again and then it all starts over again

Racing isn't all about the trainers. Of course they'd be sold because of the money,but no punter or fan wants to see good horses exit the shores

smartaform

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

Unless the UK becomes an off-course Tote monopoly, then it's always going to continue to be this way. I remember going to the Arc a few years back and only paying a fiver to get in (including racecard). The following week I went to a godawful meeting in Mallow and paid three times as much to get in, and I had to pay for the racecard after that :mad:.

The only thing that racing in the the UK has going for it is the prestige of racing there. With all due respect to Pisco Sour etc. they're not Frankel, and the fact that horses like Frankel continue to be raced in the UK (even if the prize money is shyte) is because of the fact that UK racing is still regarded as among the best in the world. Racing is always going to be a rich man's game as far as owners are concerned. As Sheikh Mohammed once said, "You've got to spend a big fortune to win a small fortune."

What pisses me off about horses going to the Far East is the way that the new owners are able to change the names of the horses. I remember Daliapour going out there a few years back and racing under a different name. It makes a complete mockery of the stud book.

I paid a similar entry fee to Naas and The Curragh recently :mad:, didnt purchase a racecard separately as i had the RP.

The sad thing with the british situation, is the fact they had a golden opportunity to try something new with the TOTE, yet they sold it to BETFRED... I mean it was the craziest decision i've ever heard.

On the stud book naming thing, they shouldn't change names, however I recall a facility on the Australian Stud Book that showed who went where and what they were called..

R0UF

http://www.hkjc.com/english/racing/horse_former_name.asp?frmSortType=COUNTRY_OF_ORIGIN

This link shows old and new names for horses registered to race in Hong Kong. Steinbeck and Wade Giles probably two of the more high profile ones recently.

UrbanSea

Article in the racing post. Frederick Engels going too.