nov_63_big_interview_Leader 02/06/2011 09:32 Page 43
THE BIG INTERVIEW
the European horse industry for three decades and without him we wouldn’t have a business, or certainly it would be very different. I don’t know where the row started and I don’t know where it is going to end. I don’t know what the point of it is and it just seems to be totally out of proportion. It is a shame as it has so many repercussions. It is making people make decisions that are disconnected from the winning post – and the winning post is all that matters. If people are breeding because the stallion wears a certain shade of blue rather than what is best for the mare, then they are going to make more bad decisions than good. Could Sea The Stars bring them together? I am sure if the Irish National Stud was lucky enough to get to stand Sea The Stars, anything would be possible. He is the perfect horse. He could be a peacemaker. Is the success and strength of these two groups good or bad for the industry? When you are dealing with the super-rich, such a strength can have an intimidating effect on others who might want to play the game. You have to envy the National Hunt scene. I remember being at a function watching JP McManus, David Johnson, Trevor Hemmings and all the big names sitting around tables at the end of the season. While they had been at each others’ throats to win the big races, at the end of the day it was only sport, it was only for fun and everyone was a winner as long as they came out of it in one piece. That’s what we need on the Flat. We seem obsessed with money and are less celebratory of the big success stories. That is what it is all about. Take Sea The Stars. People roaring him on are not roaring about money or bets. They are roaring to say it is great to be alive and you hear that every year at Cheltenham. On the Flat you need the personnel to loosen up a bit and enjoy the thing more. What do you look for in a mare? My favourite thing is performance. The best luck I have had is with mares with good race performances. Cattle breeders, greyhound breeders, chicken breeders and pig breeders will tell you that the performance of the mother is the best place to start. I also like them to fit my ideal of a sales horse – which is the big ‘ass’ and the big walk. If they have all those things then I would love to have them. The luck we have had has come by various routes, but the one thing that is nearly common to all is the mare being able to run a bit. That includes Ski Lodge, who was rated 96 in Timeform as a two-year-old having won a Leicester maiden. She didn’t train on but she bred Campfire Glow, who won the Debutante at two.
What are your views on the stallion tax exemption being removed in Ireland? The exemption was enlightened legislation and it transformed the Irish horse industry from a backwater to a world leader. Recently, Kentucky legislation was enacted to allow the write-off of your racing expenditure against general tax. Now you can write it down even quicker than before. They know the industry needs a lift and they use taxation as a method of stimulating economic activity. In Ireland they take away the only exemption we had and replace it with a promise, a promise that is now difficult to honour because of changed circumstances. The loss of the exemption has definitely made it more difficult to hold on to the advantage we had. There is a more favourable regime now in Kentucky. You can argue that the British campaigned vigorously to have the Irish exemption removed and who benefited? The UK didn’t benefit, Ireland certainly didn’t benefit. Our competitors abroad benefited and we are all the poorer for it, and that’s a shame. Should the Irish and British industries work more closely together? Competition has been good but I think at times it has gone too far. I think the tax exemption has been the classic case. I just feel that we are so intertwined – look at the UK mares coming to Ireland – that the IRE suffix doesn’t really mean Irish-bred, in the way that the Irish soccer team doesn’t always have Irish-born players. There are differences, of course, but there are certain broader issues such as animal health and movement of livestock where there is scope for much better cooperation. I believe our biggest competitors are elsewhere in the world. Look at Australia. The industry there is brilliant but it has benefited from the fact that we have been foolish enough to pay twice the stud fees they do for the use of certain stallions and then they are selling the produce into Hong Kong for a lower price than we are able to sell it profitably. Who is the fool there? The Americans have played a better game for the last 20 years than we have. We need to work together to fight for our corner or we are going to surrender the advantage we had. The war is over.
QUICK-FIRE QUESTIONS
Born Kildare Married Valerie Hyde, a fellow veterinary surgeon Children Ben, Rowan, Susie and Emma Greatest influence My dad (Michael Osborne) Way to relax Watching various forms of football, and bad golf Favourite restaurant O’Callaghan-Walshe, Roscarbery, Co Cork Best horse bred Campfire Glow Best horse sold Magistretti Favourite racecourse The Curragh Favourite movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? Favourite book Life of Pi Person you admire President Obama Teams you support Kildare (Gaelic football), Arsenal Three dinner guests Sheikh Mohammed, John Magnier, Senator George Mitchell – ‘peace in our time’ Home Tipper House Stud, Naas, Co Kildare, Ireland
When do you expect an upturn in the bloodstock business? Bloodstock tends not to be the first thing to fall in a recession and it also tends to take a little bit more time to recover, partly because of the time lag between mating decisions and bringing stock to market. You get this overhang of stock from the good times which have cost too much to produce going into a market that is trying to find its feet. So there is always a slight disjoint between the FTSE and the horse business. n
THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER 43