The Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society of Ontario is introducing a new incentive program for 2024 that will pay a $1,500 bonus for each Ontario-bred foal and $2,500 for an Ontario-bred foal by an Ontario sire.
The Ontario foal crop fell below 500 for 2023 for the second year in a row, a level the province has not seen since the early 1960s. A projected 301 live foals born in Ontario was reported by The Jockey Club last fall, which is down 25% from the 2022 foal crop. Also, while North America’s overall foal crop has been on a decline since 2005, Ontario has largely maintained a market share of between 3.2% and 5.1%. For 2023, however, its contribution to the North American crop fell to 1.7%.
“Ontario Thoroughbred breeders are the lifeblood of Ontario Thoroughbred racing. Without them, racing at Woodbine and Fort Erie would cease to exist as we currently know it,” said CTHS Ontario president Peter Berringer in an announcement of the incentive program. He said breeders are struggling due to several factors including the rising cost of labor, feed, and veterinary services; reduced number of racing days and with it reduced opportunities to earn breeders awards; no growth in the Woodbine purse account that means no increases in Ontario-sired and individual breeder bonuses; and, an increased difficulty in finding buyers willing to pay ‘reasonable prices’ for weanlings and yearlings.
“These factors have made it increasingly difficult for breeders to stay in business and over many years several breeders have left the scene,” Berringer said. “Many of the remaining breeders are struggling and may soon stop breeding Thoroughbreds. With this background and in an effort to keep Ontario breeders in business, the (CTHS) board of directors has approved an incentive program to reward active breeders for the production of Ontario-bred Thoroughbreds. It is intended that these payments will facilitate their operations going forward. The program is designed to assist with the rising costs of remaining active breeders.”
Under this program, the CTHS Ontario will pay a fee of $1,500 per live Ontario-bred foal and $2,250 (a 50% bonus) for Ontario-bred foals by registered Ontario sires. Payment will be made on July 31, 2024, based on live foal reports. This $1 million dollar program hopes to spark an immediate increase in the size and quality of the Thoroughbred breeding industry in Ontario.
Breeders must submit their 2024 live foal reports within 30 days of foaling to be eligible for the incentive.
“We need to give the breeders a helping hand. Everyone is struggling,” said John Burness, vice president of the CTHS Ontario board and owner of Colebrook Farms Stallion Station. “This is something new that we thought would incentivize some breeders in New York, Pennsylvania, or even Kentucky to come foal out in Ontario.
“Obviously, if we are not careful we aren’t going to have enough horses to sustain the racing program,” he continued. “Woodbine was lucky this year. We were at around 8.2 horses per race, which was above the average for North America, but if the foal crop keeps going the way it is, it is going to be an issue.”
CTHS noted the foal incentive program will not be available for the 2024 foals produced from mares purchased in the Fall 2023/Spring 2024 Mare Purchase or Recruitment programs.
The mare purchase program is available for a new in-foal mare to the Ontario breeding program. A breeder who buys an in-foal mare at auction for a minimum of $10,000 is eligible to receive 50% of the purchase price back up to $25,000 and a maximum distribution of up to $75,000 for the year any individual, partnership, or ownership group based in Ontario.
The mare recruitment program launched in 2020 was created to encourage breeders to relocate mares to Ontario. To be eligible a mare must not have foaled in Ontario during the two previous years and meet the Ontario mare residency requirement. Or, a mare that had foaled in Ontario during one of the two previous years provided she was sold through an Ontario Racing-approved public auction (buy-backs are ineligible). For each mare that qualifies, the breeder can receive $5,000 plus an additional $2,500 if the mare is bred back to a registered Ontario sire during the current breeding season. The program pays incentives on up to five in-foal mares per individual or ownership entity.
A foal can be a registered Ontario-bred provided its dam is a resident Ontario mare. A resident mare meets one of the following criteria:
- Resident in Ontario by Dec. 1 in the year of conception and remained in Ontario until foaling,
- Resident in the Ontario for 60 consecutive days surrounding the date of foaling in Ontario,
- Bred back to an Ontario sire registered with the program in the year of conception,
- Purchased or RNA at an Ontario Racing-recognized sale or auction and arrive within the boundaries of Ontario no later than 30 days after the date of purchase or RNA, or
- The mare was purchased in a bona-fide private sale, arrives in Ontario within 30 days of the date of transaction, and remains in Ontario until foaling.
“We already had some incentives for the mare so we didn’t feel we needed to provide an additional incentive for the foal,” said Burness. “We wanted to provide an incentive to the breeders who are already here.”
Burness added that he hopes in the near future that racetracks will step up and provide some incentives to aid the breeding industry, too.
“The racetracks sooner or later will have to do something to help the breeding industry—better be sooner—to provide some money to encourage breeding. They can’t just say they are providing the venue to race,” he said. “I know we are all feeling the pinch, but if the tracks don’t step in to help, then we are really going to be in sad shape.”
