TBA Board Election - Friday 28th May

This is your opportunity to vote for the person you wish to represent you on the board – do use your vote – your ballot papers were sent at the end of April, and must be returned to Stanstead House before 9.30 a.m. on 28th May.

Four candidates have made it through to the the election stage to contest the two vacant places on the Board. Below are their profiles:

Julian Dollar

Aged 40, my background has always been in horses. My Grandparents and later my Uncle owned King Edward’s Place, a thoroughbred stud near Swindon for many years, although until 1998 my personal equine experience was almost entirely focused around a modest three-day eventing career.

In 1998, after a spell in London working for a marketing agency, I joined Cheveley Park Stud as Management Assistant and spent seven years there gaining invaluable experience. In 2004, I left the UK to manage Dr Tony Ryan’s Castleton Lyons Farm in Kentucky, which gave me an invaluable insight into the industry in the USA. I returned to the UK in 2006 to manage Newsells Park Stud for the Jacobs family.

Although I have only been directly involved in the industry for 12 years, I believe I have learned a great deal in that time, being exposed to all aspects of the industry both in Europe and the USA.

I am passionate about Newsells Park Stud and the bloodstock world in general. These are difficult times for the industry, but I believe opportunities present themselves at just these critical moments and I would welcome the opportunity to contribute in making our industry a much healthier and robust one if elected to the Board.

Martin Percival

I am 55 and my wife and I have forty acres at our home which is located between Newmarket and Bury St. Edmunds. At the moment we accommodate four Flat mares, three of which are mine. It is a “hands on” set up and we do most of the work ourselves.

I am acutely aware of the challenges facing Thoroughbred Breeders as we grapple with the whiplash effects of the recession.

For most of my working life I have been involved in the Bloodstock Industry. Working on stud farms initially, I then spent four years in London with Pacemaker Publications and twenty three years in the Stallion Department of The British Bloodstock Agency (BBA) in Newmarket.

In 2007 I left the BBA to set up on my own trading as Boyce Bloodstock Limited, principally offering a ‘niche’ service as a Stallion Nominations consultant. I am a member of the Federation of Bloodstock Agents.

If elected I would like to see the TBA renew dialogue concerning the introduction of an upper limit to the number of mares individual stallions may cover in any season. I would also be very keen for the TBA to promote and support any schemes to encourage young people to consider career opportunities at every level in the breeding side of this business.

I have a farming/land owning background and I developed a passion for pedigrees as a child. Looking back I think I must have driven my parents mad, as at times it required the full time attention of one of the men on the farm to look after my menagerie whilst I was at school!

Robert Pocock

I come from a family with a long history in breeding and racing thoroughbreds in the West Country. I held a permit to train for several years, training our home bred horses under National Hunt rules. In the nineties, we had the opportunity to breed horses commercially for the flat and now have 10 broodmares under the Stringston Farm banner. We have run this in conjunction with our dairy and arable enterprises.

As a family, we are passionate to keep a hands-on role with our horses, from foaling all our mares at home to showing our foals and yearlings at the sales. I feel this gives me a valuable first hand understanding of what the market requires.

As a breeder, I have been lucky to enjoy some very good days; but I have also experienced the lows of this industry. If I was to be elected to the TBA Board, I would endeavour to support the interests of small breeders, as being well aware of the problems which face us.

Grant Pritchard-Gordon

I never felt the need to stand for election to the TBA Council while my brother Gavin was representing Members’ interests. However, as the Bloodstock Industry peers into a deep abyss, I feel that it is now time to volunteer my time to assist in manoeuvring through the minefields of the next couple of years. With forty years of mare ownership behind me, several years of management involvement at Juddmonte, my current management of high-value mares and a world-wide experience of various markets as a Bloodstock Agent, I suggest that my commercial experience could be of value to the Council.

I advocate a strong adherence to traditional ‘best practice’ husbandry for Breeders, but feel that the Industry must rapidly adapt to meet the financial pressures that I see mounting dramatically in all aspects of Breeding and Racing. If elected, I would endeavour to be a vocal thorn in the side of any pressure groups trying to add further financial burden on Breeders, while giving a firm prod of encouragement to any scheme that could bring better returns to Breeders in the Sale Ring or on the Racetrack.