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The 2006 International Breeders Meeting was hosted by the Japanese Thoroughbred Breeders in May 2006, the first time the meeting has been conducted in Asia. The meeting coincided with the running of the Japanese Derby. The Japanese could not have been more hospitable or better organised and the meeting was a great success both in terms of fostering goodwill between the various breeding countries and in the interesting agenda.
There was great interest in various subjects where Australia has led the way. Firstly, the meeting reviewed the change in determining the year of birth away from the actual date of birth to the date of conception. I reported to the meeting that the change had been a great success and I think there are other countries who will now follow this method.
The second subject was the agreement between the ASB and the TBA that a stallion farm could block a mare return if the service fee had not been paid when it fell due. The TBA had spent a great deal of time working out conditions so that mare owners would be treated fairly and the conversations in Tokyo mirrored our own. I believe that other countries will use almost the same conditions if they implement a similar scheme.
These meetings are held every 18 months and are normally conducted without elaborate infrastructure.
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