$7.5 million in Vobis Gold vouchers to spur reinvestment in Victorian racing and breeding industry
At least 250 races to be conducted with $30,000 bonus on top for horses by Vobis Sires
Victoria’s lucrative Vobis scheme will receive a $7.5 million upgrade, taking the bonus pool of money to $30 million to be won by eligible horses from next season, after the local industry’s governing body announced the implementation of a voucher incentive aimed at encouraging reinvestment into the state’s breeding and racing sectors.
Racing Victoria, after a proposal was put forward by Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria, has ticked off on the enhancement, which will see the owners of victorious Vobis Gold race winners entitled to a $30,000 voucher that can be used to buy more horses who are also by Victorian stallions.
TBV president James O’Brien, the proprietor of Lauriston Thoroughbred Farm, lauded the latest enhancement of the Vobis incentive scheme, believing it would benefit owners, trainers and breeders in Victoria and also encourage those participants interstate to pay closer attention.
“I think prize-money is excellent in Victoria but if you win a race, you might renovate the kitchen or buy a new car, which is nice, but that money leaves the industry,” O’Brien said yesterday.
“But with this program, it encourages people to reinvest into our Victorian-sired progeny. If you breed to race, you are going to be racing for these great rewards that are on offer or, alternatively, if you choose to sell there will be people with vouchers looking for the Vobis Sires brand and those horses will come onto their radar and they will be more popular. Either way, it is a great incentive.”
The scheme will come into effect from the 2022-23 racing season and progeny of Vobis Sires born from 2016 will be eligible to compete for the vouchers.
In outlining details of of the new initiative yesterday, RV and TBV revealed:
The $30,000 vouchers distributed to the winning owners of the at least 250 Vobis Gold races run in Victoria each season (there were 280 last season), on top of the $20,000 additional prize-money bonuses already attached to those races;
They can be used to buy a weanling, yearling, two-year-old or broodmare by a Vobis eligible sire at Inglis, Magic Millions or New Zealand Bloodstock sales;
The voucher can also be used by a mare owner to help cover the costs of a service fee of a Vobis Sires stallion, although they cannot be used on stud farm recipient’s own stallions;
Recipients will have two years to use the voucher, which can be accumulated or used partially.
Unlike the NSW equivalent BOBS double up voucher – where a cash bonus amount can be doubled to reinvest at yearling sales or on service fees – the vouchers cannot be redeemed for cash.
Last season, of the 280 Vobis Gold races conducted by RV, 198 were run in country Victoria, 57 were at midweek metropolitan level and 25 were held as Saturday metropolitan races. Of the 250 Vobis Gold races to be programmed this season, 50 are for two-year-olds, 90 are for three-year-olds and 110 are for older age horses.
O’Brien believes the initiative would support all levels of Victorian racing and also all regions.
“RV has come out and said they are going to be supporting grassroots racing and I think breeding, in its essence, is grassroots. I liken it to Auskick, really, with the AFL supporting young kids from a young age and now we’ve got the AFL women’s league which has come out of that with the great work they did there,” he said.
“The other thing is, RV is supporting maidens. If you have got a $25,000 maiden in Echuca, for instance, and importantly these races are for younger and older horses, it’s spread across the board.
“If you’re not a Vobis horse, you are racing for the $25,000 prize-money and if you are a Vobis Sires, which may have Super Vobis on it for another $12,000, Vobis Gold on it for $20,000, you are getting some great prize-money as it is, and then put the $30,000 voucher on top of that.
“It comes out as an $87,000 maiden in Echuca, which I think is outstanding and a very attractive reason to, one, go and check out a Vobis Sire horse or, two, go and breed and race one yourself.
“From a breeding point of view, you might be looking at the race fillies off the track … and that (voucher) adds a bit of attractiveness to purchasing an off-the-track race filly with a view to breeding from her.”
The significant cash injection into the Vobis scheme has been two years in the making after a proposal to Racing Victoria was put forward by the state’s breeding industry body, TBV.
Importantly, the $7.5 million is wholly funded by Racing Victoria and hands off from the Victorian government, which is also a financial contributor to the Vobis scheme.
It takes the total pool of Vobis money up for grabs to $30 million a season.
The program is highlighted by The Showdown (1200m), a $1 million race for two-year-olds who are by Victorian stallions, and the Vobis Sires Guineas (1600m), a $500,000 race for three-year-olds, both of which feature on Victorian Owners and Breeders Raceday at Caulfield each April. Victorian stallion farms also contribute substantially to the funding of The Showdown and Guineas.
“We hope that the introduction of these vouchers will not only encourage owners to reinvest in the Victorian breeding industry, but also increase demand for Victorian-sired progeny in the sales ring and the attractiveness of racing horses in Victoria,” RV executive general manager of racing Greg Carpenter said.
“I would like to thank TBV for their advocacy and support on this new initiative and we hope to see great uptake of the vouchers throughout future breeding seasons and yearling sales.”
Vobis eligible sires include Yulong’s roster featuring reigning champion Australian sire Written Tycoon (Iglesia), Rosemont’s barn of stallions headed by Shamus Award (Snitzel), Widden Victoria, Woodside Park Stud, Spendthrift Australia, which this year is launching Group 2-winning sprinter Dirty Work (Written Tycoon), and Swettenham Stud, home of shuttler Toronado (High Chaparral).
The powerful Darley line-up of stallions based in Victoria are also Vobis Sires-nominated as are newcomer Leneva Park and Blue Gum Farm, as well as a number of operations with sires such as Riverbank Farm, Larneuk Stud, Noor Elaine Farm, Glen Eden Stud and Stockwell Thoroughbreds.
The boost to the Vobis scheme comes at a time when the Victorian stallion ranks have experienced a dramatic uplift in quality.
“The champion Australian sire is standing in Victoria at Yulong, Shamus Award who has (Caulfield Cup favourite) Incentivise, there’s Toronado, they are all doing fantastic jobs,” O’Brien said.
“Last season, there were 40 Group 1 wins by Australian-sired horses, there’s the imports who come and win some of the bigger races, of course, but of the 40 Group 1-sired wins, 16 were by Victorian-sired horses, which I think is an outstanding statistic for our region.
“Nicconi, who is the sire of Nature Strip, and Kermadec, who had Montefilia, have now also both moved to Victoria.
“My view is, we do have the pastures and we have the climate, which is really, really suitable for thoroughbred breeding, and we’ve got the stallions.
“We’ve also got the support from the state government, with Vobis Gold, and of course Racing Victoria for their support of the whole Vobis program and, in particular, the Vobis Sires.”
He added: “If you are looking to breed, you have got to look at Victoria because of the support, and also if you are looking to race, I reckon you’d be looking to make sure your horse is Vobis Sires, so you can have all those benefits when you do race.”