Biggest threat to horse racing industry is falling foal numbers, thoroughbred stud farm says

A thoroughbred stud farm says the biggest threat to the horse racing industry is the steady decline of foals.

A review into the almost $2 billion industry has found the number of thoroughbred foals (the foal crop) has fallen 22 percent over the past decade, with more than 500 breeders leaving the industry in that time.

The foal crop for standardbreds (harness racers) had dropped 44 percent.

The report from the TAB New Zealand Racing Advisory Committee said based on current trends starter numbers would plummet a further 18 percent in thoroughbred racing and 32 percent in harness.

General manager of The Oaks Stud, Rick Williams - a former New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing board member - said the declining numbers had a compounding effect.

"The foal crop drops, field sizes drop, there's less race meetings, less number of horses racing per race, less turnover, so there's less prize money.

"So the whole thing gets into ... a downward spiral.

He said the "guts of the report" was about streamlining the way racing was administered.

Williams said the industry had transformed into "a massive ballooning bureaucracy" and back-office work could and should be consolidated across the racing codes.

The report found $91 million was sucked up by industry administrative costs - up to $20m of which could be redirected to participants and investment, it said.

Williams said he'd seen the industry come through the stock market crash of the '80s and the Global Financial Crisis and was adamant it had the power to arrest its decline - but not on its own.

"There are a lot of things we can do, and we have the power to do ourselves and sort our own shit out."

He said only then could it approach the politicians for help.

Williams said farmers with one or two mares and small breeders used to form a large chunk of his clientele but rising costs had seen them leave the industry in droves and even large studs had contracted.

He said it might not be palatable to the taxpayer, but believed some tax incentive was necessary to entice them back and also encourage investment in brood mares by those outside the industry.

Included in the report's recommendations were tax and legislative change for breeders and owners.

It stressed that the changes were not a "tax break" but a "production incentive".