- Subscription Plans
- Print Only Subscription
- Online Articles
- Race Track
- Business
- Farriery
- Profiles
- Training
- Physiology
- Nutrition
- Welfare
- Physical
- Dentistry
- Sales
- Veterinary
- TRM Award Winners
- Advertising
- Print & Online Rates
- 2010 Schedules
- Current Print Issue
- Next Print Issue
- Back Print Issues
- Subscribe Online
- Contact Us
- Contact Form
- Submit An Article
- Suppliers' Guide
- Associations
- ITM
- JRA
- Keeneland
- Racing Victoria
- ROA
- Singapore Turf Club
- Bedding
- Bloodstock
- Jamie Railton
- Building
- Loddon
- Röwer & Rüb
- Stable Safe
- UK Drilling Services Ltd
- Careers
- Equine Careers
- Dietary Supplements
- Biotal
- Brinicombe
- Fine Fettle Feed
- Litovet
- Twydil
- TRM Ltd
- Vetroquinol
- Equipment
- iFEED
- IVP Mulden
- Leather Import Gloria
- Lillingstone
- NovoSail
- Woof Wear
- Farriery
- Kerckhaert
- Mustad Hoofcare SA
- Horse Care
- Horseboxes
- JSW Coachbuilders
- Nutrition
- American Th Products
- Baileys
- Bluegrass Horse Feed
- Carrot Express
- Dodson & Horrell
- Equiform Nutrition
- Happy Horse
- Hay Bar
- Haygain
- Red Mills
- Reverdy
- Saracen
- Office Management
- IEP Management
- Yardman Software
- Performance Products
- Aloequine
- ATP
- Flair Nasal Strips
- LS Sales
- Mitavite Asia
- Property
- Publicatons
- Directory of the Turf
- Racecourses
- Churchill Downs
- Copenhagen
- Epsom Downs
- Gowran Park
- Hamilton Park
- Jagersro
- Øvrevoll
- San Siro
- Täby Galopp
- Rails & Fences
- Duralock
- Sales
- SGA
- Tattersalls
- Tattersalls Ireland
- Studs
- Shadwell
- Surfacing
- Martin Collins
- Softrack
- Therapy
- Back On Track
- Barclay's Collar
- Cyclo-ssage
- Equine Health Centre
- FMB's
- HydroCo
- Pax Horse
- Veterinary
- Virbac
Business Articles
Yes, there is a possible legal solution to racing’s financial problems
Horseracing is an expensive business, as everyone reading this publication is well aware, writes Maria Lamm. Recently racing has experienced declining prize money, and other changes in the world economy might further change the scenery for racing’s future.
Read full story...
Tackling the Carbon Hoofprint - what racehorse trainers can do
Global warming and carbon emissions are affecting results on the track as well as profitability, and there are numerous ways in which racing stables can reduce their carbon hoofprint.
Read full story...
The 2009 European Trainers’ Federation AGM
The 2009 AGM was held at The Churchill Hotel in Portman Square, London in December. As always the AGM proved to be a useful forum to discuss issues from across Europe which affect trainers.
Read full story...
ITBA Expo 2010 - Establishing itself as a key event on the racing calendar
The second ITBA Expo took place in Ireland at Kildare’s Goffs Sales Complex in January and the bi-annual event looks certain to establish itself as a major part of the European calendar. The 2010 renewal boasted 85 trade stands, varying from familiar and well-respected products to innovative product launches, as well as representatives from major stud farms and industry publications, all of whom reported brisk trade throughout the two days.
Read full story...
Swedish Racing - the head of Taby Galopp suggests inner-city racing
Imagine a handful of race meetings every summer in Richmond Park in London or Central Park in New York, writes Geir Stabell, on turf strips that have simply been rented by the racing authorities, to show off the sport to a wider audience. A sort of a science fiction idea, far removed from the realities of horseracing? Not necessarily.
Read full story...
Battling for Britain - the future of racing
Consultancy firm Harrison Fraser have been asked to define a brand for British horseracing – to broaden the sport’s appeal. While most people agree racing needs to change and improve, there is no definitive answer on how it can and, more worryingly, there is no definitive person who can actually make this happen.
Read full story...
The Absolute Insurer Rule - repercussions for trainers of a positive drug test
North American Trainer published this article earlier in its Spring 2009 issue. We are presenting it here for our European readers to gain insight into the rules in place in the U.S. and into how new regulations are changing the way the system works.
Belgian Racing - the example not to follow in Europe
Belgium’s racing industry has the dubious claim to fame of being the model for other European countries not to follow. This was not always the case.
Read full story...
Funding + Integrity = Racing’s Future
A fundamental rule of business: a proportion of profits should always be invested in growing areas of the business that will allow it to increase its competitive lead and market share.
A fundamental rule of sport: any mainstream sport needs to recruit and retain a wide fan base if it is to survive.
Czech Racing - how has it changed since the collapse of the Soviet Union?
The twentieth anniversary of the beginning of a new era in the history of the Czech Republic and Czech racing will be celebrated this November. The Czech nation, and Czech racing with it, entered the new world back in 1989.
Read full story...
Racing and the Recession - how has the industry been affected?
For many the joy of owning a racehorse is a luxury and not a necessity, so when money is tight it’s one of the first things to go. It is a different story for trainers though; this isn’t a hobby which can be put on the back burner until things pick up. These are challenging times.
The Rise of AQPS Horses in international racing
Gone are the days when Autre Que Pur Sang horses were considered the poor relation of their thoroughbred counterparts.
Read full story...
Italian racing goes on strike and brings Rome to a standstill
Alitalia lives to fly another day thanks to a combination of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s business acumen, unshakable confidence, negotiation skills tuned finer than the engine of a Boeing 747, and utter persistence in the face of strong opposition from syndicate representatives well beyond the eleventh hour.
Read full story...Are racecourses selling their customers?
The world has gone gambling mad, and perhaps it will hit us harder than most people anticipate in coming years. Quite how it hits us, will be crucial to the future of horseracing. Or, perhaps one should say, quite how it does not hit us will be of great importance. There is fierce competition out there, for the betting pound, the gambling euro and the wagering dollar. Therefore, this is not a good time for horseracing to lose its share of the gambling pot. This is not the time to "sell our customers". This is the time make some shrewd business decisions and draw up some productive long term strategies. These are also days when we are heading into a global recession. Believe it or not, that will not necessarily slow down the betting market.
Read full story...Eco-trainers - turning a profit from manure
Chantilly trainers have gone green and are soon to be the envy of their contemporaries around the world with a ground-breaking manure-disposal project. Faced with piles of manure, the bane of all trainers’ lives, Chantilly professionals are working together to launch a pioneering scheme which looks set to solve all their problems and at the same time reap both environmental and financial rewards. The 10-million euro project, which should be operational towards the end of 2009, is at the cutting edge of technology and consists of using a process of methanisation to convert the waste into electricity which will then be sold to the EDF (French Electricity Board), and into heat which will be used locally.
Read full story...Global Superbet - Can it take horseracing to a bigger stage?
Twenty-five years ago John R. Gaines in Kentucky came up with an idea, the Breeders’ Cup series. Gaines felt that Thoroughbred racing needed a high profile day, which would make it possible for the sport to compete with NFL, NHL and NBA in the media picture. Everyone involved in racing agreed, just as much as they agreed that Thoroughbred breeding and racing needed new innovations, offering opportunities for more international competition with chances of winning bigger purses. Has it worked? Partly, and the Breeders’ Cup has most certainly been more a star actor than just another face to the stage.
Read full story...Who is Controlling Racing's TV signals?
For all the differences between the horseracing and betting landscapes in Britain and North America - size, history, administration and race and bet types, - one similarity of principle has emerged over the last five years. The live televised racing scene has crystallised into two entities, and the impact on both the foundation and prosperity of the sport and the availability of its betting facilities has been thrown into the blender.
Read full story...The growing influence of South Africa in the world Pari-mutuel industry
Trivia fiends interested in international horseracing and betting will have a field day with the combined question: Which country operates the world’s most extensive pari-mutuel system, and which company is the operator? Many would probably go straight for Hong Kong and the local Jockey Club as the joint answer, given that Far Eastern punters are deservedly renowned for their fanatical pursuit of riches through horseracing and more recently football betting, and that Hong Kong has the best-known, most successful legalised system. They would be wrong.
Read full story...The Asian Racing Conference – from a trainer’s perspective
ATTENDING industry conferences and seminars, especially those staged overseas, as a media reporter can be hard work – honestly! – but when you come across speakers at the top of their game, who can put over concise points in layman’s language, the tedium of long days, and sometimes even longer nights, wafts away on a breeze of simple understanding.
Read full story...The European gambling scene – which way for horseracing?
The war is over: so said France Galop director general Louis Romanet a year ago, after he had put his name to a ground-breaking deal with British bookmakers Ladbrokes. For the first time, live pictures of all French races – Flat, jumps and trotting – were being made available to show in UK betting shops, via a new broadcasting service known as Ladbrokes Xtra.
The future of dispute resolution - alternatives to the usual legal process
Disputes about horses and money are all too common in the racing world. The legal process is not a good way of settling disputes it can be costly, lengthy, antagonistic and uncertain.
Read full story...New European legislation could prove costly for racehorse transporters
THE enforcement of new European legislation next spring may come as a costly blow to racehorse transporters. The regulation aims to safeguard animal welfare by radically improving conditions during transport, but the racing industry feels that existing standards are already sufficient and the innovations amount to only red tape.
Read full story...Trainer’s Comment - Christian von der Recke
This summer the Football World Cup will take place in Germany. Teams from Africa may play teams from South America. It is unlikely they'll talk the same language and the games may well be refereed by Asians who speak neither French nor Spanish!
Read full story...The European Horserace Scientific Liaison Committee
Anyone heard of it? No? EHSLC? Still no-one? Thought not. Neither its full nomenclature nor its clumsy acronym elicits anything approaching a visceral response amongst racing professionals. This does not sound a sexy topic for discussion or debate – those at the Racing Post would surely agree, given that mention of this body has popped out from between their covers just twice in the past four years.
Read full story...Are the six newly upgraded Group One races for fillies and mares in Europe worthy of their status?
Well that is too soon to say, but there is a significant difference between the newly upgraded “f&m” events and how other races that have earned Group One status over the years. The key word is “earned” of course, as a race cannot, under normal circumstances, be upgraded unless it has earned it through attracting high quality fields.
Read full story...The growing pattern - how and why new races have been added
VERY few ideas for radical change in horseracing are either universally popular or accepted at the first time of asking. And that’s if a single authority is involved. When a group of nations, some of which have a history of antipathy, bordering on hostility, towards each other’s proposals, come together to examine a programme of alterations, the chances of a speedy and amicable resolution are even slimmer.
Read full story...International incentives - how racecourses attract owners and trainers
Every racing authority and every racecourse must offer incentives if they have any particular ambitions. Appearance money, owners' premiums, breeders' premiums, travel allowances and all manner of special offers are either tried out or made a basic part of policy. The question always is whether they have the intended result. If so, then the offerers must ask if the money was well spent and whether the chosen policy will produce a satisfactory result in the longer term. As for the owners and trainers who are the beneficiaries, their job is to keep themselves informed and pick up whatever they can.
Read full story...Hoppegarten Racecourse - a history of the German racecourse
May 17th 1868 was an important day in the history of German horseracing. Prussian King Wilhelm I (the founding of the German Empire and the title Emperor was still eight years away) himself attended the successful opening ceremony of “Hoppegarten” together with his ministers including Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Driving force behind the scenes was the Union-Klub, a Jockey Club founded in 1867 by leading racing enthusiast. The club purchased the over 600 hectares big area outside Berlin for the amount of 296,000 Prussian Taler. The name “Hoppegarten” comes from the fields, “garten” meaning garden, of hops that were replaced by the racecourse.
Read full story...Are supplementary entries good for racing?
Brendan Duke has dreamt of winning the Derby at Epsom. Merely to have a runner in the great race would fulfill a lifetime ambition. In 2003 the chance came. Skelligs Rock was being trained specifically for Epsom, having been entered as a yearling and kept in the race at every forfeit stage. However, Skelligs Rock did not make it to Epsom.
Read full story...Improving working patterns for racing employees
In September 2001, the NTF’s in-house lawyer spotted an unusual opportunity. It didn’t have obvious appeal so her perspicacity deserves great credit. In a pile of information sheets from an employers’ advisory service, she saw that the Department of Trade and Industry was running a “Work Life Balance Challenge Fund.” Its aim was to offer companies funding to obtain independent consultancy on flexible working. By chance I had met Lyn Arigo earlier that year. As a result of introducing flexible working practices for her graphic design company with major beneficial consequences for recruitment and retention, she had become an enthusiastic promoter of “Work Life Balance”, as modern management speak would put it; so I had some idea what the DTI’s project was trying to achieve.
Read full story...Horse Racing Ireland - forging closer ties with the Government
TRUST the Irish to go about things differently. Just when the British Government is doing its level best to divorce itself from horseracing and associated betting links, Ireland’s racing industry has forged closer ties with Government. And just when British racing is facing up to the strong likelihood of dealing with the most disturbing changes in 300 years history, in the wake of the Office of Fair Trading’s inquiry, the Irish authorities have come up with a five-year strategic plan.
Read full story...Racing returns to Baghdad - how the industry is recovering after the war
The starting bell sounds for the first race of the day at the Baghdad Equestrian Club, the red line on the club thermometer edging towards 60 degrees. But The City of People, or Al-Amiryia in Arabic, remains unusually empty.
Read full story...
