Barry Irwin says CTS wants to close TBA

....my earlier post on the matter under a different thread....is racing in SA Doomed...well with the potential loss of the TBA it will speed up the road to self destruction.....

Yes very, very sad.....the TBA is a local racing institution and in its time of weakness the real power behind racing has chosen to attack and sink them.....I really feel for the chairperson Mrs Rowett who under her watch they lost Tom and now Mick Goss is running rings around them.....it would not surprise me that even she after serving her 2year tenure will eventually side with CTS as the pay days at TBA are over.....they lack the backing of bigger breeders and we will see a total polarization of breeding area's competing against each other.....the poorer KZN region against all that are under Phumelela's thumb.....and tricky Mick skipping between the 2....the last place that there should be any instability is at the point of sale....customers will simply choose not to go shopping..... :ohmy:

Thanks for taking the time to answer me M. The only one losing out here is the TBA not the breeders nor the buyers, as a facilitator for the sale of horses. Does it really matter who the facilitator is ? The breeders and the horses are far better off having the sales locally. The TBA over the years never recognised this or changed their approach.
Thats why I ask if it was for sentimental reasons of loyalty towards the TBA ?
I dont see how a breeder or buyer will be negatively influenced or inconvienced by this spat.
Nobody was saying anything when the TBA was a law unto themselves as in the past.
They can stuff each other up for all I care as long as the end product is better for the breeder, buyer and the horse.
When it comes to the amount of horses on sale in Sa, it will only affect the facilitator of the sale and their income. I cant see again any negative affect on the breeders or the buyers.
IMHO

The problem may well be greater than we think People and we all know who they are wish to control all aspects of racing in the RSA They have now the biggest breeders as well as having been the biggest owners for a few years
They want you to buy their horses but compete with you at their sales.
Last year I went to the CT RTR sale and walked away halfway thru
After the sale by my calculation 2 buyers had bought back about 30% by numbers and 40% by value
At every CTS sale prices are bid up by them buying not only their own homebred but also foals buy stallions they stand

Like most smaller buyers I miss the TBA early sale

I agree with Neigh and with Muti. Barry is probably right in that CTS want to take TBA/BSA out.
The bottom line is that TBA have not moved with the times. If they had, they would be strong enough to resist CTS.

TBA could not surely have hoped to stage all of the Sales in Gauteng. They will become a shadow of themselves, with one or two little regional Sales per annum.

Good post elmer. You summed it up perfectly. Too much power in a few hands will ruin racing

Hits the UK press

Irwin wades into South African sales feud

BY MARTIN STEVENS 3:03PM 17 SEP 2014

TEAM VALOR chief executive Barry Irwin has said he is "no longer comfortable with his investment in South Africa" in the wake of bitter warring between the two bodies that hold sales in the country.

Bloodstock South Africa (BSA), part of the country's Thoroughbred Breeders' Association which has traditionally held sales in association with Emperors Palace in Johannesburg, and Cape Thoroughbred Sales (CTS), an independent company formed in the last five years that has conducted popular city-centre auctions in Cape Town, have been trading blows since CTS announced at the start of the month a new auction firmly in its market rival's territory.

RELATED LINKS
Barry Irwin's letter on the South African sales feud
CTS - which, unlike BSA, guarantees payments to vendors - said it would hold a ready-to-run sale at Turffontein racecourse in Johannesburg on November 1, at around the same time BSA held its own established ready-to-run sale in the city.

It has also launched a new yearling sale in Johannesburg next April, in the same month as the BSA holds its own sale there.

Soon after the announcement, Summerhill Stud, one of South Africa's most influential breeders, withdrew its entire draft from this year's BSA's Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale.

In a further blow to BSA, Emperors Palace will not be renewing its contract with the organisation after the end of this year, with the entertainment resort to enter into a relationship with CTS instead.

Animal Kingdom owner Barry Irwin
Barry Irwin: Team Valor principal


PICTURE: Alex Evers / Equisport
BSA chairman Susan Rowett has fought back by saying: "There is much speculation that CTS have launched a hostile assault on [us], which could pose a threat to the future of the sales activities of our association.

"The TBA runs sales on a truly independent basis where all men count but none too much," she added. "The sales activity enables the association to earn profits that it can then apply for the benefit of breeders and the thoroughbred breed, these include equine health, vaccination programmes, research, quarantine and trade."

Now Irwin, whose Team Valor is one of the major players in South Africa, where it buys and sells bloodstock and has campaigned stars such as Ebony Flyer, Irridescence and Gypsy's Warning, has waded into the argument.

In a letter to the country's Sporting Post, he wrote: "I like South Africa as a place to buy, sell, race and raise thorougbreds and I like it as a place to develop stallions.

"What I don't like at all are the sharp, ruthless and cut-throat business practices of the people behind CTS.

"The last thing [South Africa] needs to do is weaken itself by conducting a relentless power grab of the very organisation that forms the basis of the breed - its own breeders' organisation and sales company."

Irwin recognised BSA's inability to guarantee vendor payments as a weakness but said it was "no reason to abandon them or put them out of business" and warned against South Africa being left with only one company having a monopoly.

His letter summed up: "Right now I have a substantial investment in South Africa.

"I must be honest and say that I am no longer comfortable with my investment based on the way things are starting to go.

"But you know what? I don't think those guys that run the Cape outfit give a damn, because their practices tell me that instead of encouraging inclusion, they would be happy to control every single aspect of racing, breeding and sales so that they can have a game of five-handed poker between themselves."