Racehorse TALK

UK Expert Calls For Artificial Insemination
Professor Twink Allen, the former director of Britain's Thoroughbred Breeders Association Equine Fertility Unit in Newmarket, "has stepped up his campaign for the abolition of the rule banning artificial insemination by hitting out at the big stallion owners" & "claiming they are deliberately standing in the way of what he regards as progress", reported racingpost.com. Allen told the International Breeders Seminar at Somerset West near Cape Town in South Africa: "The stallion owners are frightened of change & a few financially powerful ones simply refuse to discuss AI - and it's the numerically larger but financially smaller mare owners who suffer. A handful of wealthy stallion owners are afraid of it & frightened by a change in the status quo. In their minds, they see their stud farms would diminish or disappear." Allen called the AI ban "antiquated" & declared: "We have gone on too long with this attitude of we are not going to talk about it, go away. We must discuss it. AI reduces the risk of venereal disease, mating injuries & uterine infections. It also cuts down on the amount of labour required. People say that it will lead to the most popular stallions inseminating huge numbers of mares, but that's not going to happen. In the American Standard-bred (trotting) world, where they do use AI, the numbers of mares-per-stallion have actually come down, because breeders don't want to flood the market with too many yearlings by the same sire. The same would happen in the thoroughbred world." (Sep 2)

Allen To Address US Breeders On AI Debate
Professor Twink Allen "intends spreading" his campaign against the AI-ban "around the globe" noted racingpost.com. "In January he will address a large group of American breeders in Kentucky". Allen "is also in touch with Bruce McHugh, the former Sydney Turf Club chairman who is taking the Australian Stud Book to court"; McHugh maintains the anti-AI rule "is a restraint of trade & therefore illegal". Allen summed up: "It is now high time the existing ban on the use of AI & ET in thoroughbred breeding be reviewed in light of the very obvious potential health, welfare & economic benefits." (Sep 2)