The UK’s leading equine health & well-being magazine
August/September 2008 £4.75
Fears over Newmarket race industry By Louise Cordell THE Newmarket racing industry could be under threat from proposed changes to the National Air Traffic Services. New research has suggested that investment in the area could dry up if planned alterations to Stansted and Luton airport stacking locations go ahead. The study was carried out by Bidwells on behalf of the multimillion pound horse racing and stud market industry in Newmarket. It revealed that if one key player in the industry left the area as a result of NATS changes, 93 per cent of stud owners believed there would be an impact on their business and future business decisions. The result would be the possible movement of the industry away from Newmarket and potentially out of the UK altogether. Alaistair Watson, chairman of the Newmarket Stud Farmers Association, said: “We accept that provision needs to be made for ‘stacking’ in this area. However, the current proposals will have the worst possible effect, particularly on the thorough-
bred breeding industry. Our research shows the most important factor to investors, after availability of services and land, is the high environmental standards of the area. There is the potential that breeders will perceive the stacking aircraft to be damaging to this environment.” Thoroughbred breeding in Newmarket is big business, employing over 2,000 full-time staff with the industry as a whole worth over £135m to the area. It occupies over 9,000 acres over which incoming flights will stack, under the new plans. Louise Kemble, chief executive of the Thoroughbred Breeders Association, said: “We are particularly concerned as Newmarket is the centre of breeding in Great Britain. As we have our most valuable stallions there we want the correct environment and infrastructure in place to support them. “The TBA is behind the Newmarket Stud Farmers Association 100 per cent and we have written to ministers within Defra and the Department of Culture Media and Sport to point out the negative effects of these moves on the industry as a whole.”
Over 250 horses from all over the world will be flying into Hong Kong for this year’s Olympic Games. Biosecurity measures will be essential to ensure that they do not bring in infection or contract any of the insectborne diseases prevalent in south-east Asia. Professor Josh Slater of the The Horse Trust’s Scientific
Sub Committee has now be seconded as biosecurity advisor to the event and will be responsible for getting the international horses safely into Hong Kong and through quarantine. Pictured are Laura Bechtolscheimer and Mistral Hojris of the Olympic Dressage Team. Picture: Lewis Harding Ltd