Doug Burge
At 78 years of age, Dana Halvorson is looking to move out of Washington State and live permanently at his farm in Ocala, Florida. He leaves behind a decades-long, storied career in the bloodstock world in Washington. He also leaves behind a state breeding industry in free-fall. Between 2005 and 2025, the number of mares bred dropped 94%, from 1214 to 70. Only two major farms remain in the whole state. "The West Coast has just taken a beating," said Halvorson, president of the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders & Owners Association...
The news has arrived thick and fast for the Northern California industry over the last couple of months, as racing operations have consolidated in the Southern half of the state. Few state industry stakeholders remain unaffected by these developments, certainly not the breeders, whose commercial decisions today ripple years into the future. The breeding sheds don't open for another couple of weeks. During that time, many currently undecided minds will be resolved. Among those California breeders currently canvassed, however, their outlooks for 2025 are a mixed bag. On the one...
Tom Clark is the owner and manager of Rancho San Miguel, where more than 400 horses currently roam a sprawling 250-acres in California's San Luis Obispo County. He owns and manages the farm with his wife, Nancy. They have run it since 2000. The farm is a lynchpin of the state's breeding industry, housing as it does such workhorses of the California breeding shed as Sir Prancealot (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}), Danzing Candy (Twirling Candy) and Mo Forza (Uncle Mo). But Clark harbors a grim prediction for the future of the...
The California Thoroughbred Breeders Association (CTBA), which hosts a pair of Thoroughbred sales annually, will participate in the NTRA Legislative Action Campaign's 1/4% Checkoff Program, which supports the NTRA's federal lobbying efforts. Beginning with the Aug. 10 Northern California Sale at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, buyers and consignors/sellers at may elect to have 0.25% of the sale price of each horse donated to the Legislative Action Campaign. This percentage equals $2.50 for every $1,000 in sale price. The CTBA joins Keeneland, Fasig-Tipton, Ocala Breeders' Sales Company and the...