Think it doesn’t matter where your horse is born? State of origin (Thoroughbreds are officially bred in the place where they’re born) is taking on a new level of importance as the 21st century rolls along.

We may be immersed in a global economy, but individual prosperity is all about marketing, and creating a niche. The right connections i.e., having been born in one of the participating states are a basic prerequisite for the NTRA’s Great State Challenge, to have its inaugural running December 7 at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, Tex.

The GSC, to offer six races worth a total of $1.65 million in purses this year, is the only program of its kind ever attempted on a national basis in the U.S. And it will surely be watched closely by almost everyone who breeds, or owns, or trains horses anywhere in the country.

Several new programs not to rival the scale of the Great State Challenge have sprouted up within the Mid-Atlantic region, and they bear watching as well. Delaware is starting small with a half-million dollars in purse enhancements at Delaware Park for 2-year-olds who are boarded in the state for 90 days before the 2003 race meet begins. In a state that has no breeding industry to speak of, the Delaware Certified Thoroughbred Program is the first step toward promoting, and building, a local network of farms and training facilities.

It is a plan devised by the Delaware Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (DTHA), and funded by an allocation from the purse account. In Virginia, which has only 26 days of live racing a year, representatives of the Thoroughbred breeding industry have become ever more ingenious in their attempts to provide competitive opportunities for Virginia-bred and/or Virginia-sired horses.

Which leads to this fall’s Old Dominion Turf Championship, a series of five races giving preference to Virginia horses at point-to-point meets. Sponsors are putting up all of the purse money for the races, which will be run on the flat. The series begins with four races worth $3,000 each and culminate in the $20,000 Old Dominion Turf Championship on the day of the International Gold Cup at Great Meadow (October 19).

The $20,000 purse makes it the richest flat race ever run at a steeplechase meet in Virginia. No one will get rich running a horse at the Virginia point-to-points. But that’s not the point. It’s a matter of showcasing, and utilizing, a homegrown product.

Of course this has been going on for years with the region’s popular and well-supported special race days, the Maryland Million, Maryland Spring Challenge, West Virginia Breeders Classics and Pennsylvania’s Day at the Races (a relative newcomer to have its second running on October 5).

Maryland has led the way in promoting state-bred and state-sired horses, having launched two genuinely innovative programs the Maryland Fund (1962) and Maryland Million (1986). And the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, always forward-thinking in its approach, currently is considering various ways of enhancing benefits to its members. Money is the linchpin.

The Mid-Atlantic region’s five states that offer breeding funds Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia paid out a total of more than $21.5 million in breeder, owner and stallion awards and other incentives in 2001.

The figure will be even higher in 2002. But just as important is distributing the money in creative ways that will encourage more people to breed more and better horses. States within the Mid-Atlantic region historically have taken that concept to heart, and now even more so.

There has never been a more opportune time to foal your mare in the Mid-Atlantic region.

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