THE stakes and sales’ bonuses earned by horses competing in restricted races will in future be excluded from national statistics for stallions and breeders, but included for owners, jockeys and trainers, according to a press release from the National Horseracing Authority (NHA).

The rule becomes effective on Thursday, 1 August.

In terms of the NHA rules, restricted races are those where participation is confined to:

* horses born or raised in a particular area or are the progeny of stallions of a particular area;

* graduates of specific sales, or

* horses selected on the basis of  some arbitrary criteria.

The new rule was motivated by the fact that the number of restricted races, and the stakes in these races, have increased substantially.

Such race could substantially influence the log position of stallions and breeders because breeders can “create” or sponsor such races and thereby dictate the outcome of the breeders’ and stallions’ championship – in particular if a stud farm were to stage a race of extraordinary value restricted to horses it bred.

The decision to include such stakes in the owners’, trainers’ and jockeys’ statistics was taken because owners and trainers are at liberty to buy and compete where they want to. To exclude these races from the owners’ and trainers’ statistics would be a disincentive to investments in thoroughbreds.

Jockeys are at liberty to accept engagements as and where they wish and it seemed self-evident that restricted races should be included in the jockeys’ statistics.

The NHA considered the approaches adopted in other major racing jurisdictions and found no pattern or consistency or useful guidelines. So the issue was approached on principle, rather than on precedent or foreign example.

The decision to make the rule applicable from 1 August 2013 and not for the present racing season was motivated by the general approach in our administrative law against retrospectively. Stakes of restricted races have been included in the national statistics and it would be wrong to make the newly adopted rule retrospective