The long-running and controversial A$10-million case to allow artificial insemination when breeding Australian Thoroughbreds has been defeated. Judge Alan Robertson has ruled against the application by hobby breeder and former leviathan bookmaker Bruce McHugh to remove the restrictions against AI and found that Australian rules of racing that ban it are not anti-competitive nor a restriction of trade.
Crucially, Judge Robertson said in an exhaustive 368-page judgment that has taken 13 months to compile that outlawing of AI in horses is not contrary to the trades practices/anti-trust act. Judge Robertson said the court was not interested in the availability or not of AI, but only if its unlawfulness contradicted the rules of competition. Clearly, he said, it wasn’t.
During last year’s six-week trial in Sydney’s Federal Court, more than 30 witnesses from Australia, France, Ireland, United Kingdom and Hong Kong argued the case for and against AI, with McHugh claiming the banning of AI was contrary to the act, while racing and breeding officialdom arguing it was not a restraint of trade.
Officials from the Australian Racing Board and Australian Stud Book made submissions based on the damage legalizing AI would do to Australia’s A$200-million dollar trade to the rest of the world which outlaws the practice. This evidence proved critical in the published findings of Judge Robertson, who mentioned several times he was mindful of international standards and Australia’s role in it. In the judgment, the Judge was supportive of the status quo and the dangers of changing it.
Michael Duffy, the Chairman of the ARB, welcomed the decision upholding the validity of the Australian rules of racing in respect to the definition of a Thoroughbred. “We have always maintained the naturally bred Thoroughbred was the basis of the domestic and international sport of racing, and AI proponents were free to establish their own industry as they wished,” Duffy explained. “This case has created uncertainty which will lift following the decision,” he added.
ARB chief executive Peter McGauran said he was relieved the case was over. “It’s settled and I am relieved. This case has taken a long time and has been very testing,” he stated. “It is positive for breeding that our rules that have operated for over 200 years are not anti-competitive or a restriction of trade.”
Asked about the future if the AI supporters continue to press their case outside the law, McGauran stated, “They are welcome to rent out our racecourses after we have used them. They can develop a separate racing code if they like.”
But that will not be the future, according to McHugh. “For me it’s over. I gave it my best shot and I was wrong,” he commented. “The law is the law. Our witnesses didn’t convince Judge Robertson that the law is anti-competitive. He also was not convinced that if Australia went alone it would not be to our disadvantage commercially,” he continued.
McHugh, who financed his own case costing more than A$3.5 million, is used to such pressure and cut his teeth duelling with the world’s biggest punter Kerry Packer, sometimes turning over A$20 million in an afternoon with individual bets of A$4 million.
He began his personal crusade four years ago after retiring from bookmaking and out of frustration and a personal sense of grievance of what he saw as official disdain for his plan to AI some Thoroughbred mares on his property. The case had garnered international interest and drew a comment from Louis Romanent, Chairman of the International Federation of Horse Racing Authorities who welcomed the no case against AI. “The dismissal of the challenge is a good outcome and I welcome it,” Romanet said in a release. “The definition of what is a Thoroughbred is set out clearly in the International Agreement on Breeding, Racing and Wagering and is adopted by all of the IFHA Member countries throughout the world. It requires a natural covering.”
Trevor Lobb, chairman of Thoroughbred Breeders Australia, said the decision would allow Australians to continue to send horses around the world and investors to buy with confidence at upcoming yearling sales.
