Thoroughbred Breeders' Association

The shortlist of nominees has been announced for six of the 13 award categories at this year's TBA Flat Breeders' Awards Evening, which takes place on Wednesday, July 8 at Chippenham Park. Sponsored by Ace Stud and hosted by leading racing broadcaster Gina Bryce, the evening will celebrate British-bred winners from across the 2025 Flat racing season and bring together the British Flat breeding community. Kate Sigsworth, deputy chair of the TBA and chair of the TBA Flat Racing Committee, said, "We are really looking forward to the annual TBA Flat...

The National Hunt Breeders' Summer Party was launched by the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (TBA) on Thursday. The event, incorporating the TBA's NH Breeders' Awards, will take place at Pulton Hill Vineyard near Cirencester on Tuesday, July 21. Sponsored by Gallagher, the party will bring the British National Hunt breeding community together. It will be hosted by Alice Plunkett. Tickets are priced at £50 per person. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit the TBA website. Naomi Mellor, chief executive of the TBA, said, "We are delighted to be...

The 2026 TBA Flat Breeders' Awards, which will celebrate the successes of British-bred horses from the 2025 Flat racing season, will be sponsored by Harris Li and Rachel Zhang's Ace Stud. "We are delighted to be sponsoring the TBA Flat Breeders' Awards, which reflects our full commitment to supporting the British breeding sector," said Li. "Ace Stud is a growing operation with a clear vision for the future, and we are actively looking to build on our foundations, including expanding our stallion roster in the years ahead." The Newmarket-based Ace...

The Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (TBA) and Racehorse Owners Association (ROA) have collaborated with the announcement of a webinar designed to primarily educate and inform racehorse owners and bloodstock enthusiasts considering thoroughbred breeding for the first time. The webinar titled 'From Paddock to Winning Post: Getting Started in Thoroughbred Breeding' will take place on Monday, April 27 at 6pm. Offering a practical and accessible introduction to breeding, it will have a particular focus on owners of fillies nearing the end of their racing careers and featuring guest speaker, multiple Group 1-winning...

Breeder Briefings, a new webinar series, was launched by the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (TBA). The webinars will feature subject matter experts on a range of pertinent topics to support members with their breeding enterprises. The first webinar will begin on Wednesday, April 15, with additional sessions set for May and June of this year. The first episode will be hosted by TBA Chief Executive, Naomi Mellor who will be joined by Phillip Norden and his team at Ceres Rural to discuss Land Management Subsidies available to stud farms. Discussion will...

Nominations for this year's TBA Stud Employee Award are now open. Sponsored by New England Stud, the annual award is presented at the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association Flat Breeders' Awards Evening, which will take place on Wednesday, July 8 at Chippenham Park. The award winner will be selected from six shortlisted candidates and invited to attend the TBA Flat Breeders Awards Evening. They will also take home a £2,000 cash prize and a perpetual trophy in the form of a Charlie Langton bronze, while the remaining shortlisted nominees will receive £250...

Sam Sheppard CBE, former chief executive of both the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (TBA) and the European Breeders' Fund (EBF), died on Friday evening at his home in Suffolk. He was 84. His tenure at the TBA ran from 1973 to 1989 and during that time Sheppard was instrumental in setting up the EBF along with the late Peter Willett and Bob McCreery. He remained at the helm of the EBF, which is still going strong more than 40 years later, until his retirement at the end of 2012. By that...

If seeing top-class racehorses in the flesh is the kind of thing you're into, then the inaugural NH Stallion Open Weekend - organised by the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (TBA), in association with the British EBF - had just about everything that you could ask for, with the exception of the muscle-bound sprinters that have proliferated at Flat studs in recent years. A total of 20 stallions, mostly of the more stamina-laden variety, paraded for onlookers across the two days, with seven different farms opening their doors. It was a star-studded...

TB-Ed, the educational platform of the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association, has launched a new 'Getting the Mare in Foal' programme - a series of online courses designed specifically for Thoroughbred breeders, stud farm managers and their employees, as well as anyone with an interest in equine reproduction. Caroline Turnbull, Industry Education and Retention Manager for the TBA, said, "We are really pleased to launch this new online course as part of the TB-Ed offering which now hosts 24 online courses and 81 resources on the site and which has become a...

The Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (TBA) has announced the line-up for its annual Forum at Tattersalls on Thursday, November 27. Entitled Building Bloodlines; Broodmare Evaluation and Purchase, it will take place on the 'dark day' of the Tattersalls December Foal Sale, starting at 5pm. Free to attend, the event will examine the process of buying a mare and building foundation bloodlines, with consideration of pedigree, racing form, physical attributes and setting a budget. The expert panel will be hosted by Gina Bryce and consists of Newsells Park Stud general manager Julian Dollar, TBA...

It would be fair to say that Monday night's annual general meeting of the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (TBA) was not a laugh a minute, but, as TBA chairman Philip Newton outlined, there is not much cause for levity in British racing and breeding these days.  Rising costs, stagnant or falling prize-money in the lower tiers, and continued declines in the British (and global) foal crop were all cited as areas of concern, while Newton, who has been instrumental in the development of Project Pace, which seeks to make a Premier...

The Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (TBA) held its 108th Annual General Meeting on Monday, September 1, with chairman Philip Newton confirming the TBA's support for an independent Board at the British Horseracing Authority (BHA). "Charles Allen has a big job in front of him," Newton said of the BHA's new chair. "The industry needs to recognise he doesn't have a silver bullet and cannot do this on his own. "The TBA will provide support, reasoned and considered counsel and give Charles Allen every opportunity to deliver the job he has been...