Canadian Owner-Breeder Dave Anderson Joins TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

[Wandering Eyes]

The tariffs that will be placed on goods coming into the U.S. from Canada, and elsewhere, don't go into effect until Apr. 2. But they're already producing dire forecasts for what they will mean for the Canadian breeding industry. For instance, if someone brings a Canadian-bred to a U.S. yearling sale, the purchaser will have to pay a 25% tariff on top of the purchase price. That will probably mean that the Canadian breeder will disappear from the U.S. sales.

No one has paid closer attention to this situation than Dave Anderson, who operates Anderson Farms in St. Thomas, Ontario. Anderson was this week's guest on the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. He was the Gainesway Guest of the Week.

Anderson has already sent most of his horse to the U.S. to beat the Apr. 2 deadline, but says that is something that will hurt his bottom line because of the extra costs involved, which include finding a place to board the horses.

“It's going to cost people a lot of money,” he said. “As you know, I have my own farm in Canada. With the infrastructure and all, I have lots of money invested, as do others. Having to send them somewhere else is going cost me a lot of money. We're hoping that something will happen on Apr. 2 and cooler heads will prevail and this will all go away and everything will be merry again.”

Anderson is taking nothing for granted. His horses will be in the U.S. prior to Apr. 2.

“When a horse is sold, whether it's transferred privately or publicly at auction, they're going to be subject to a tariff if they're not in the United States by Apr. 2,” he said. “Otherwise, those horses selling at Saratoga or at Keeneland September, they're all subject to a 25% tariff. I can tell you personally, with my own horses, they're all on their way to Kentucky. I'm not going to risk a 25% tariff on my entire yearling crop. But this will just cripple my operation. All my profit is gone. A lot of other Canadians are making the same arrangements and people that aren't doing it, they're running the gauntlet.

The tariffs could also affect the November breeding stock sales. Last November, Moira (Ghostzapper), who was based in Canada, sold for $4.3 million at Fasig-Tipton November. Had the tariff been in place, the buyer would have had to pay an extra $1.075 million.

With Moira, the government would have known what she was worth because of the sale price. But what about other horses? How can you put a value on an unraced horse that crosses the border into the U.S.?

“Sadly, I think with our industry we're really just collateral damage for bigger issues, steel, aluminum, oil, gas, all the big ones,” he said. “And how do you value a horse? Just because the horse is by Into Mischief doesn't mean it doesn't have OCDs in the stifles and is standing on three legs and it's worth 500 bucks. It's going to be a bit of a Kreskin routine at the border. If they check values, how are they going to check them? I don't know. These are the unknowns.”

Anderson said he never pictured a time when U.S. horses and Canadian horses would be looked upon differently and subject to different rules.

“Canadians, Americans, to me, it's no different,” he said. “I don't differentiate. This industry, the horse business, we're all in it because we're passionate. We don't do this because it's a great business model. It's because we love the animal and that's why we're in it. And if we can make a little money along the way, then terrific. But there have never been political or economic boundaries like this before. We're allowed to go to places like Australia or Europe, race, breed and have fun. This isn't fun right now.”

In our “Fastest Horse of the Week,” segment, which is sponsored by WinStar, we went over the many reasons there are to breed to WinStar stallion Independence Hall. The fastest horse of the week was Booth (Mitole), who got a 107 when winning the GIII Whitmore S.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders' Association, West Point Thoroughbreds, the KTOB, 1/ST Racing and 1/ST TV, the team of Randy Moss, Zoe Cadman and Bill Finley reviewed the encouraging numbers released last week by The Jockey Club and HISA regarding the rate of equine fatalities. There was a review of the upcoming major stakes this weekend, which include the GII Louisiana Derby and the GIII Jeff Ruby S. Wayne Lukas was also part of the discussion as the Hall of Fame trainer unveiled his Derby horse when American Promise (Justify) romped by

7 3/4 lengths in the Virginia Derby.

Listen to the podcast here or watch it here.

The post Canadian Owner-Breeder Dave Anderson Joins TDN Writers’ Room Podcast appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article