Changes have been made to the Oregon Stake series.
Raising horses in this economy is a challenge at best and a gamble every day. The Jockey Club forecasts that the nationwide foal crop will be down another ten percent for 2010. We here in Oregon have seen a greater decline. With this information, the OTOBA Board of Directors has closely examined the 2009 foals that are currently nominated to our Oregon Stakes Series. The likelihood of filling these races with the small number of nominated foals is grim. At the board meeting on August 24, 2010, the board members voted to return nomination fees for weanling foals of 2009 and terminate the current program.
This marks the end of the nominated stakes races as they have been run in the past. There will be Oregon-bred restricted stakes for the future; but they will no longer require a nomination in their weanling year, only requiring a pre-race nomination as in any other stake race. Nominated foals of 2008 will be the last crop to run under the current program with some changes in the 2010 Bill or Janet Wineberg and/or the 2011 Oregon Breeders Derby. Those nominated foals will have first preference to fill these races. We have dropped the supplemental payment down to 10% of the purse to help encourage a full field and prevent the race from being run off the card for less money. The OTOBA Stakes Committee will be meeting soon to work on developing a new program that can be sustained in the current economic climate and reward the owners and breeders of Oregon-bred horses of the future. Your ideas and input are valuable and would be helpful in going forward. Please contact us and share your thoughts and questions.
Oregon Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders Association, Inc. P.O. Box 17248 ~ Portland, OR 97217-0248 Office: 503.285.0658 ~ Fax: 503.285.0659 info@oregontoba.com