Racing Australia Annual Report 2017

Racing Australia Annual Report 2017 | 19 The principal activity of Owners and Breeders Services is to operate the Australian Stud Book ensuring the integrity of Thoroughbred breeding in Australia in accordance with the Australian Stud Book Rules, together with the Registrar’s role to record the initial registration, ownership and naming of all Thoroughbreds in accordance with the Australian Rules of Racing. In addition, each Principal Racing Authority (PRA) employs a Deputy Registrar. The Deputy Registrar is responsible for: • subsequent changes in ownership (Transfer or Lease) of horses based in their respective states • registration of colours • registration of Syndicates of owners FOAL OWNERSHIP DECLARATIONS New reforms were implemented on 1 August 2016 to strengthen ownership transparency and traceability to improve animal welfare in the Thoroughbred industry with new Rules of Racing and Stud Book Rules introduced to make acceptance into the Stud Book conditional on foals being registered within 30 days of foaling and their owners being declared within a further 30 days. Of the 12,132 Foal Ownership Declarations submitted for the 2016 foal crop, compliance of the new rule has been relatively high with 72% submitted within the required 60 days. Mechanisms are in place for 2017 born foals to send reminders to owners with incomplete ownership records to remind them of their obligations. Jacqueline Stewart Owners and Breeders Services Manager (Keeper of the Stud Book) An Online system to register full beneficial ownership has been deployed for the 2017 season providing an efficient system for breeders and owners and is a significant improvement to the previous paper-based function. Extensive development and testing is ongoing to include an Online platform to submit Change of Location and Unnamed Horse Transfer of Ownership records and is expected to be in full service by late 2017. Owners and Breeders Services Completed and Certificate issued (92%) Incomplete (0.4%) Outstanding (7.6%) FOAL OWNERSHIP DECLARATIONS Foal Ownership Declarations online system