News has filtered through today that three of Australia's best racehorses have been retired to stud. Manhattan Rain, O'Lonhro and Von Costa De Hero have all had announcements over the last twenty-four hours that they wll be immediately whisked off to stud. For racing fans, more questions than answers have been raised by the retirement of these runners, as they all promised to deliver many more Group One wins than the solitary one they collected (Manhattan Rain in the AJC Sires Produce). With all three of these stallions being bred in the purple, it is not unexpected that they could collectively earn anywhere between twenty to fifty million dollars at stud, depending on their early success. And they only averaged thirteen races each! It is a shame that racing administrators in this country continue to place the idea of taxing stallions in the "too hard basket". A ten per cent tax on stallion fees will hardly affect the breeding industry or the owners of these three runners, but a return to the industry of between two and five million dollars for these three runners alone would do much to solve the perceived "prizemoney issues" that the racing public continually hear about. A number of senior administrators have blamed state and international borders as the problem with introducing such a tax on stallions, yet the same administrators are determined to charge a turnover tax on betting, despite the same logistical issues. Kevin Skene, TRACKDATA, 01/03/2010 |
STUD BECKONS FOR RACETRACK DISAPPOINTMENTS