Krasnodar, 18 November. Our today’s interviewee is Igor Vasiliev, General Director of Krasnodar Hippodrome LLC.
Q.: The racing season finished in October. What are its results?
A.: If comparing with the previous year, we had more horse starts – their number grew from 1,400 up to 1,600. I would call it a national record. Also, we tried nearly 600 horses, compared with 450 in previous years. Such a growth was possible due to the fact that the hippodromes in Moscow and Rostov-onDon because of a string of problems were not working at full capacity.
Q.: What are the acutest current problems of horse-breeding?
A.: The main problem is the continuous reduction of the pedigree composition of horses and of horse breeders, because presently it is a planned loss-making business. On the whole, the annual loss of a stud farm keeping 100 and more horses may reach 45 to 50 million roubles. The farms make them up at the expense of another activity – usually, agriculture. If you take the agenda of a racing day, you will not see any new horse owner there. Our industry is lossmaking; the production costs are very high. Now we are saying that it is a domain of well-off people.
Q.: Can the Krasnodar Hippodrome remain a cost-efficient company, bearing in mind all existing problems of the horse-breeding industry?
A.: As a rule, Russian hippodromes are now recording planned losses. They do not have money to support their current economic activity. As for the Krasnodar Hippodrome, it does earn money and is financially self-sufficient. Yet, we are lacking money to invest – for instance, to build a new stand; this is the owner’s decision. But we earn quite enough to remain involved in the current activities.
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