Insemination court challenge may open floodgates on horse offspring

THE former chairman of the Sydney Turf Club is challenging a requirement that thoroughbred horses physically mate to produce offspring in a lawsuit that may change horse racing worldwide.

Bruce McHugh’s claim that a ban on artificial insemination of thoroughbred horses is an illegal restraint of trade is being heard in Sydney federal court. The trial opened yesterday and is scheduled to take at least six weeks.

International rules banning the registration of thoroughbreds produced by artificial insemination, and adopted by racing officials in Australia, in part, they say, to maintain the integrity of the sport, are outdated and designed to protect large-scale commercial stud farms who now have a “licence to print money”, Ian Tonking, McHugh’s lawyer, said in his opening statement.