Horse racing here is on its last legs.
That’s according to champion breeder Sir Charles Williams who thinks that the industry is facing a potentially catastrophic decline in yearlings and foals.
Sir Charles says it is “against established policies and practices of every horse breeding country in the world not to support local breeding”.
“You want to improve breeding. It would be interesting to note what the Florida colt that won the Kentucky Derby a few years ago got from breeders premiums and that encourages people in Florida to breed.
“New York has races for locally-bred horses alone so does Kentucky and California. The Barbados Turf Club is doing nothing to encourage local breeding, but conversely is doing everything possible to discourage it,” he charged.
He said he was concerned the imported two-year-olds race for $15 000 and the locally-bred two-year-olds race for $12 000 and were on the same card.
“The two-year-old local horse employs people, supports those who sell feed, while the imported takes up foreign exchange to come in this country,” he said.
Sir Charles says he is so disillusioned with the horse racing industry, he contemplated putting some of his horses to sleep.
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