Racing Victoria Sponsors Racehorse Outplacement Program
- Tuesday, 06 July 2010 10:52
The Cyberhorse Racehorse Outplacement Program has gained major recognition from the racing industry with Racing Victoria announcing a multi-year sponsorship.
The ROP which receives 10% of the prizemoney earned by Hearts Racing Team members, is designed to find new homes for a large proportion of the horses which leave racing each year.
Announcing Racing Victoria's support for the ROP, its Chief Executive Rob Hines said:
"We cannot afford as an industry to be turning potential future racing fans away from the sport in their droves because of a perception - right or wrong - that the people in racing consider the horse to be a dispensable commodity. We need to influence that perception and demonstrate that we do care as an industry about our horses."
Cyberhorse director Bill Saunders, who developed the ROP, echoed Hines' sentiments, saying:
"We're delighted that Racing Victoria has seen merit in the Racehorse Outplacement Program. Our view is that the major funding source for the racing industry is the punter which represents maybe 5% of the population. Racing has the potential to be a great deal more popular as a sport if it can create a bigger fan base. However the perception that most ex-racehorses are put down guarantees that women and young people will not become racing fans which is a huge impediment to expanding its audience."
Saunders explained that the purpose of the ROP is to capture racehorses when they are at their most vulnerable - when they are no longer competitive as racehorses and they need assistance to make the transition to an equestrian career.
"There is currently no system to assess the horse coming out of racing to see where it might be best suited", he said.
"Many horses fall into the hands of people wanting to make a quick buck, which means that they finish up in quite unsuitable homes and never have the benefit of being retrained by experts for a new life after racing."
"The aim of the ROP is to place these horses with expert re-trainers or Outplacement Consultants who will not only help them transition to a new career, but will also be able to match them to the most appropriate new home."
This process will not only ensure that the horse is given time to find its feet doing something different, but also that when the retraining period is over and the horse has been placed with a new owner, care is taken to ensure that they are a good match.
"All too often a horse finds itself in the hands of a rider who can't handle it and the horse gets the blame for the mismatch", Saunders observed.
The ROP aims to handle these issues by conducting an expert assessment of the horse upon entering the program which will reveal its strengths and weaknesses at that point.
In conjunction with the Outplacement Consultant, the Cyberhorse ROP will plan a program to address the horse's main weaknesses, with the aim of improvement.
Once the retraining phase is completed, the horse is reassessed to see that has improved sufficiently to make the transition to being an equestrian mount.
"Our expectation is that most horses will have veterinary and behavioural issues improved significantly by the ROP training program", Saunders said.
"We expect that many horses will have had their value improved from near worthless to being worth a few thousand dollars as a result of the ROP training."
At that price, the majority of ROP graduates will have recouped their re-training costs.
"We see this as giving the horse the chance to pay for its own retirement", Saunders said.
