Krasnodar, 13 September – Yug Times. Horsebreeding is one of Krasnodar Territory’s “calling cards”. It is present in our traditions as a vestigial remain of Cossack life, and, by consequence, in our plans to develop agro-tourism. Can horsebreeding become an important voice in the Territory’s economy, what does Kuban’s principal hippodrome represent today and how to transform its balance into a positive one- all in the interview with Igor Vassiliev.
– Igor Igorevich, do you remember how did the hippodrome look like when you took over?
– On the field, were held survival car races. In the stable they salted pelts. Farm animals had their pasture here. There was an oyster mushrooms cultivation. Inside the perimeter there stood warehouses, some auto-service stations… Before i took charge, the hippodrome’s archive disappeared in a fire! At that time there were 6 racing days per season, even though the races are the principal source of earnings of the hippodrome.
– Are there “markers” that indicate that the situation has improved?
– How it was and how is it now? Yes, there are such markers.We had fifteen members in our team, now, counting “seasonals” they’re around one hundred. Now we have 19-20 racing days a season, while before, there were six. The testing level of the horses rounded 300-400 per season, while now it’s over 500. Before we had 10 steady clients per months while now we have 700. We had 300 starts before, now well over 1200.
– Explain “counting on fingers” how does the hippodrome make its earnings?
– It assolves to two most important tasks: first — a social one, regarding those people that sit on the tribunes during the races and train in equestrian sports in our dedicated complex. The second one is economic: just at the hippodrome - through testings - the value and qualities of the horses are formed. Now, these gains are divided 50 to 50: between testings and the equestrian sports center (horseriding,amateur sport, intermediation in horse rental, equestrian vaulting, the Terrritory Equestrian School)
– Have you been at foreign hippodromes?
– I’ve been at many places. In France, once there was something like the present Russian confusion. Now, that country holds one of the highest ranks worldwide in terms of racing organization and horse farms. They, have bult an exact and comprehensible model of sectorial economy - with the people that have created that model still living. They explained to the government, at which stage they needed governmental funding, at which a tax burden, and in which amount. Nowadays, France, not having spent a franc in the development of equestrian sport,gains, as per the equestrian totalizator, more than10 billions euros and more than 1 billion euros go into the country’s tax system.
– Igor Igorevich, our hippodrome is a private one. Are there any state ones left?
– Yes. In total, in the country, there are 34 hippodromes alive “on paper”, but in fact - there are 17. Of those 17, 4-5 are private, as the Krasnodar Hippodrome, all the remaining are statal.
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