Westspeed

WESTERN AUSTRALIA’S EXCITING THOROUGHBRED BREEDER AND OWNER INCENTIVE SCHEME

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INTRODUCTION

Racing and Wagering Western Australia (RWWA), maintains and supports the Westspeed Incentive Scheme as a means of fostering and promoting Western Australian thoroughbred breeding and racing activities by,

• Increasing the financial rewards associated with owning and racing a locally bred horse and therefore encouraging owners to remain in the industry longer and possibly extend the level of their investment.
• Providing owners with an incentive to race their horses in WA.
• Encouraging local breeders to source quality sires and/or dams in order to develop well bred progeny and improve Western Australian bloodlines.
• Providing breeders with the opportunity to access an on-going revenue stream from the yearlings they’ve previously sold, via their racing success.

The scheme commenced operation at the beginning of the 1999/2000 racing season and it has grown to now distribute bonuses of circa $7.5M each year!

Which Yearlings are Eligible?

The following rules must be satisfied for a horse to be eligible to participate in the Westspeed Incentive Scheme.

• Is the product of a sire standing in Western Australia at the time the dam is serviced, or
• is by any sire and is:
  1. the product of a mare which is a least 50% owned by a Western Australian based breeder at the time the yearling was conceived, as recorded by the Australian Stud Book; or
  2. the product of a mare which was served by a Western Australian based sire in the season following that in which the yearling in question was conceived.

HOW DOES WESTSPEED WORK?

The Breeder begins the process during a horse’s yearling (one year old) season by lodging a Westspeed Breeder Nomination ($715). In doing so, the breeder

• Becomes eligible to receive a Breeder’s Bonus for all eligible wins the horse in question may record (as detailed below).
• Provides the owner of the yearling (who may be the breeder themselves or another entity if the horse has been sold) with the option of paying an Owner Nomination Fee (also during its yearling season), thus making it fully Westspeed nominated and entitling the registered owner at the date of the eligible win, to receive an owner bonus for all eligible wins, as detailed below.

The Owner of breeder nominated yearlings who wish to be in the scheme can choose between two levels of participation.

1. Westspeed Standard, for which the Nomination Fee is $1430 (inc. $130 GST)
2. Westspeed Extra, for which the Nomination Fee is $2860 (inc. $260 GST)

There is no obligation upon the owner of a breeder nominated yearling to participate in Westspeed and should they elect not to do so, the horse will remain a “Breeder Only” nomination and only that portion of the bonus will be paid in the event of eligible wins. The owners of yearlings which have not been breeder nominated do not have the option of Westspeed participation at any level. 

WHAT ARE THE BONUS LEVELS?

The following Westspeed Bonus Schedule currently applies:

Please note: From 16 March 2019 when RWWA joined the Racing Australia national computer system, Westspeed bonuses advertised include the trainer and jockey portion, ie from the above amounts 91% is paid to the owner, 6% is paid to the trainer and 3% is paid to the Jockey.

BONUS OPPORTUNITIES

1. FULL BONUS (as per the above table)

The connections of participating horses will receive the aforementioned bonuses for wins in the following races conducted in Western Australia.

• All participating two and three year winners at any TAB covered race conducted in Western Australia for which the advertised stake money falls within the parameters defined above.
• All wins recorded by participating horses at four years of age at any TAB covered race conducted in Western Australia over a distance of 1750 metres or further, for which the total advertised stake money falls within the parameters defined above.

2. CONSOLATION BONUS (Half of the bonus in the above table)

The connections of any Westspeed horse which records its first career win at four years of age in a TAB covered Western Australian race of less than 1750 metres in distance and for which the total advertised stake money falls within the parameters defined above, shall receive a bonus of half of the amount relevant to the race, as described in the above table.  For clarity, a bonus is only payable for a horses first career win under this clause.

3. TRAINERS AND RIDERS

Trainers and riders of Westspeed winners are also beneficiaries of the scheme. They receive a bonus of 6% and 3% respectively, of the total advertised bonus awarded to the connections (breeder and owner) of all Westspeed winners.

HOW DO I ENTER?

There are several ways in which a yearling can become a Westspeed participant.

• Yearlings sold at a public sale:  A breeder offering an eligible yearling for sale at a public auction and intending it to be a Westspeed lot, can state they wish to nominate the yearling on the Sales Nomination Form. If accepted for the sales, this horse then carries the Westspeed logo in the sales catalogue and for all such lots which are sold, the breeder nomination fee is deducted from the sale proceeds by the Sales company and forwarded directly to RWWA. Purchasers of all such yearlings then have the option to nominate them for the Owner’s aspect of the scheme. It should be noted however that,
  • any yearlings which go through the sale as a Westspeed lot, but for which no sale is effected, can still participate in the scheme but they’ll need to be nominated privately in a manner as described below.
  • any yearling which goes through the yearling sale as a non Westspeed nominated horse cannot later be nominated for the scheme subsequent to the sales by breeder or owner.
• Yearlings sold or acquired privately:  Eligible yearlings which have been sold or acquired privately, either as yearlings, weanlings or in utero, are also eligible for nomination to the scheme. It should be remembered however that a yearling must be breeder nominated in order for the owner to have the option of participating and the registered breeder of the horse, as per the Australian Studbook, must be given first option to lodge that breeder nomination. Should an owner wish to participate with an eligible yearling which has not been breeder nominated, the registered breeder can be contacted by RWWA and given the option to either,
  1. Pay the Breeder Fee (and thus receive any Breeder Bonuses the horse may ultimately win) and facilitate the participation of the new owner.
  2. Provide written permission for the new owner to lodge the Breeder Nomination as well as the Owner Nomination Fee, and thus receive both components of any bonuses the horse may win in the future.
  3. Do nothing, in which case an owner nomination cannot be accepted and the horse in question will be omitted from the scheme.
• Yearlings Bred and Retained:  Breeders are also welcome to consider Westspeed participation with any eligible yearlings which they are intending to retain and race. Obviously any such yearlings that are breeder nominated can also be owner nominated and for breeders looking to retain stock for future breeding purposes, the following Westspeed conditions relating to leased horses may be most relevant.

WESTSPEED HORSES SOLD OR LEASED

Breeder
The entity which breeder nominates a yearling for Westspeed remains unchanged throughout its career and therefore receives that portion of all bonuses won throughout that horses career, regardless of any change in ownership of lease arrangement.

Owner – Sale
In the event of a fully nominated Westspeed horse being sold, the rights to any Owner Bonuses automatically transfer to the new ownership entity identified on the relevant Transfer of Ownership Form – effective from the date of transfer as stipulated on said form, irrespective of who paid the original Owner’s Nomination Fee.

Owner – Lease
If a fully nominated Westspeed horse is subsequently leased, the original owner (lessor) retains the right to the owner portion of any bonuses won during the period of the lease, i.e. lessees do not receive any portion of the Westspeed bonus. It is permissible for the parties to a specific lease to negotiate an alternative arrangement to this re Westspeed and include it in the “special clauses” however RWWA will continue to pay the full owner bonus to the lessor who should then deal privately with the lessee to satisfy the conditions of the lease.

WESTSPEED PLATINUM

RWWA introduced Westspeed Platinum from the 2013 breeding season – providing a further substantial bonus for each prime metropolitan win if the horse is by a Westspeed nominated stallion.

2014 FOALS

All 2014 Westspeed nominated foals by a Western Australian based stallion will be eligible for the benefits of Westspeed Platinum.  This initiative will provide an additional Westspeed bonus of $10,000 for every win in a Tier 1 Westspeed race.  This increases the total Westspeed bonus payable for a tier 1 race to $30,000 ($25,000 to the Owner and $5,000 to the Breeder).  In addition, if nominated for Westspeed Extra, the Owner will also eligible a further $7,500 for each prime metropolitan Westspeed win – taking the Owners bonus to $32,500.

2015 FOALS

For foals born from 2015 onwards, the Westspeed Platinum bonus will increase to $15,000, however to be eligible the horse must be by one of the following Westspeed nominated stallions.  Westspeed Platinum horses will receive a total Westspeed bonus of $35,000 ($30,000 to Owner and $5,000 to Breeder) for every Tier 1 Westspeed win.  The Owner will receive a further $7,500 bonus if the horse is also paid up for Westspeed Extra.