TBA - An Eye on the Future

Hi Clanners

I sent this letter out to members recently and thought I would send it to you too - I know alot of our buyers and trainers and supporters of our business use this site and wanted to share this with you. Apologies if you have already read it!

On another note of immense pride I was at the Longines Race Day at Sha Tin yesterday to witness Tony Millard win the Mile with Ambitious Dragon, and then to see Cherise Cherry run his heart out for a gallant second in the Vase Sprint. I strongly suggest that you try and make this day next year it was amazing - I am still on a high!

Thanks to all supporters of our business this year, I really do appreciate how some of you have given me some excellent constructive feedback and hope you can see some improvements in how the TBA is operating.

Have a great festive season and travel safely!

TBA - An Eye On The Future

An overview of the past year for the TBA and its marketing and sales arm Bloodstock SA:

Keeping in mind we are not through the worst of the global economic downturn, and
South Africa has been beset by all sorts of challenges this year,
the love of the horse, the love of the game of horse racing, and the passion and
commitment of some devoted horsemen and racing lovers has ensured
that we have had an excellent year as a sales company.

We celebrated our 92nd year in existence as the TBA this year, and I am sure that it
has never been tougher to exist as a breeder, trainer,buyer or punter
for that matter, with rising costs, tough economic conditions and a raft of other
challenges. But you carry on regardless, and that shows the true
character of all of you, and I have to say makes me rather proudly South African,
and extremely proud to be part of this business.

2012 has been a year of significant change and progress for the TBA, with staff
changes, Council changes and a positive attitude change which all of
you are benefitting from.

We have run record breaking sales that have shown that our market can be stimulated
with the right bloodstock and marketing offer – the Suncoast
Casino KZN Yearling Sale nearly doubled in revenue, whilst the Emperors Palace Ready
to Run Sale showed a 29% average price increase. This is in line
with the uptick in the market in recent sales overseas which bodes very well for the
sport of horse racing locally. Don’t forget our flagship sale
the Emperors Palace National Yearling Sale held its own in extremely tough trading
conditions, whilst our National 2 year old sale showed an average
price increase of nearly 20%.

As you have experienced this year the pay-outs to studs have improved considerably
and our collection performance is set to improve even further in
2013. I must thank the whole TBA team for pulling together in what has been a tough
year to help us raise the bar in the running of your association.

What 2013 holds in store:

You will find a motivated, streamlined team who are long standing servants of the
TBA offering you better service than ever before – we are
passionate about what we do and being part of the future TBA success, and will
continue to step up our service levels and productivity.

We will look at ways to increase our revenue, and to grow our market through a
greater effort to get new owners and buyers into the sport. This
involves a collaborative marketing programme with all racing bodies as we try and
market the sport of horse racing better.

We will market our sales and bloodstock to the local market and try and encourage
new buyers to our sales, as well as target specific overseas markets
as they open up to us post May.

We will continue to improve our upfront credit control and collections and pay-outs
to breeders. I am aiming for 35 days payment and hope that our
buyers can help us achieve this.

We are looking at setting up a Breeders Conference as part of enhancing our Breed
Affairs offering to the industry, but once again we need to run
profitable sales so that we can invest into industry initiatives such as this.

It was proved this year that “the right horse at the right sale” strategy really
works, with some excellent results at the KZN Yearling Sale, the
National 2 year old Sale and of course the Ready to Run Sale.

After some excellent weanling sales in 2012 we want to try and build on this success
and stimulate the weanling and mare market at our regional sales,
and encourage all pinhookers to support these sales. We would also like to encourage
Horses In Training and Fillies for Stud entries at the regional
mixed sales, as well as at the National 2 year old sale.

We are giving our Value Added Stakes programme a facelift as we try to incentivise
buyers and breeders on a wider scale. Details of this to follow in
the New Year.

We have had to increase our contributions to Racing SA from R1m to R1.7m as they
ramp up their efforts to change our export protocols. This is the key
to unlocking growth in our industry and hence we are funding them in this fashion.
Imagine the day we can export horses freely to the world, race
internationally on a fair basis, and enjoy other benefits such as shuttle stallions
and being able to import bloodlines into the country easily. This
is our holy grail and we have to crack the code at all costs.

All stakeholders have committed to increase their spending and their efforts to help
Racing SA achieve their goals of exporting horses by mid- year
2013. Every horse you sell through our sale ring helps fund this cause and we need
all the help we can get.

Our entries for NYS 2013 have been excellent so far, thank you very much for your
support with what looks on paper to be a record sale. John Kramer
and Kerry Jack will be inspecting yearlings mid- January, and the selection panel
will sit as soon as they are done so that we can give you feedback
as early as possible. Kerry forms part of our succession planning for John and he
will be passing on his invaluable experience to her over the next
couple of years.

Please note our late entries for Nationals close on February 1st.

I just wanted to extend a personal thank you to all you loyal breeders who continue
to support us with bloodstock, and to all our buyers who have made
this year so successful for us. I have enjoyed meeting you all and working with you,
and cherish some of the friends I have made so far, and the great
racing moments I have experienced up close and personal.

I am a perfectionist and passionate about what I do, and am on a mission to continue
the TBA’s legacy, and to ensure we are around for another 100
years.

My prediction for the New Year is that we are in for a special year - we will start
exporting horses with relaxed protocols and Mike De Kock, the
Great South African Racing Ambassador, is going to clean up in Dubai with some of
the great horses in his string over there. We are going to have one
of the best years ever which build on the strong sales we have had this year, and we
will see a lot more foreign buyers starting to buy at our sales
as our market uptick continues.

It would be remiss of me not to thank our sponsors Emperors Palace, led by Bob
Yearham, they provide excellent accommodation for our out of town
buyers and make a trip to Gauteng a lot more fun.

With warmest regards from the team at the TBA - Happy Racing over the Sizzling
Summer Season!

Please note the TBA offices will be closed from Tuesday18th December to Wednesday
2nd January.

All staff will be contactable should you need any assistance.

Kind regards
Tom Callaghan
CEO

Good one Tom (tu)