Racing Australia Annual Report 2019

12 | RACING AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2019 KEEPER OF THE AUSTRALIAN STUD BOOK – OWNERS AND BREEDERS SERVICES REPORT RACING AUSTRALIA CONTINUES TO SUPPORT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT DIRECTLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE THOROUGHBRED WITH $20 FROM EACH REGISTRATION APPLICATION ALLOCATED TO THE RACING AUSTRALIA RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FUND. Jacqueline Stewart, Keeper of the Australian Stud Book (Owners and Breeders Services Manager) 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 it also records 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 • the regulation of licensed promoters (Syndicators) MY HORSE RACING PORTAL Extensive development and testing was undertaken during the year to launch the myhorseracing.horse Portal in April 2019. The Online system will provide a more efficient system for breeders and owners and will be a significant improvement to the previous paper-based function. Some of the features include: • Horse Registrations • Unnamed and Named Transfers & Leases • Syndicate Renewals • Jockey Silk Renewals • Retirement and Death Notifications An objective of the Racing Australia Board on behalf of the Thoroughbred racing industry is to proactively and quickly grow the use of myhorseracing.horse and reduce the use of paper forms for Registrar and Deputy Registrar functions, and further work by the Management Team will ensue in this regard. Further investments have been approved by the Board for the next financial year to develop the final piece of merging the industry databases into the Single Nation System, being the Australian Stud Book database. RACING AUSTRALIA RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FUND Racing Australia continues to support research and development directly associated with the Thoroughbred with $20 from each Registration application allocated to the Racing Australia Research and Development Fund. The Research and Development Grant Assessment panel review submissions and makes recommendations on funding to the Racing Australia Board. Assessment criteria requires research to be innovative with clear hypothesis and methodology to produce tangible outcomes for the health, welfare and performance of the Thoroughbred in Australia. Racing Australia Research and Development Fund 2018/19 Balance ROR Research Fund 30/06/2019 $424,804 Approved project expenditure $384,200 Actual ROR Research Fund Revenue $244,725 Forecast Balance ROR Research Fund 30/06/2020 $285,329 AGRIFUTURES THOROUGHBRED HORSE PROGRAM Commencing in the 2017-18 financial year, the Research and Development Levy has seen the establishment of the AgriFutures (formally RIRDC) Thoroughbred Horses Levy, supporting priority research, development and extension activities to address Thoroughbred industry challenges and opportunities. The Australian Stud Book was appointed the official Levy Collection Officer by the Australian Government and collects Statutory Levy contributions of $10 per mare return lodged by breeders and $10 per mare covered paid by the stallion owner. From 1 September 2017 to 31 July 2019, the Stud Book has collected $793,920 on behalf of breeders to be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Federal Government on eligible Thoroughbred research. There are eighteen current projects with $662,845 invested in R&D since July 2018 (the beginning) and $1,518,830 currently committed to spend until 2024. To learn more about the AgriFutures Thoroughbred Horses projects, please visit www.agrifutures.com.au/thoroughbred-horses. Jacqueline Stewart Keeper of the Australian Stud Book (Owners and Breeders Services Manager)