‘Growth Potential Is There’ – New KBC Chair

The newly elected Chairperson of the KZN Breeders Club, Cathy Martin hopes to be a catalyst for change and improvement in the industry.

With Covid-19 hitting the racing and breeding industry hard in the last year, Cathy says that she feels that KZN Breeders is now more relevant than ever.

“More so than ever we as an industry, and in particular as a region, need each other to remain competitive.  The Breeders Club provides a platform to grow this camaraderie as well as to pool ideas, support and incentives.”

Cathy says that KZN Breeders was established to help its members promote and market their horses and the industry in the province.

“We hold various events and marketing campaigns to provide a link with other bodies within the industry. This serves to facilitate sharing information and support amongst our members.”

Having grown up on a farm just outside of Grahamstown, Cathy is a ‘farm lass’ through and through. She completed her Matric at Kingswood College before graduating from Rhodes University.

She ended up working for Rainbow Chicken Farms in the field of Industrial Relations/Labour Law.

She has been a member of the KZN community since 1998, when she and her husband of 28 years, Jonathan, moved to Mooi River.

Cathy found it easy to form friendships with her fellow horsey people in the area.

“Having been a horse-lover and rider my whole life, it was sense that we made friends with the horsey people in the area. We were introduced to the racing industry, followed by the breeding industry and the rest is history.”

Cathy went on to explain how their Hadlow Stud have produced many successful racehorses over the years.

“ They include eleven-time winner Thunderflash, eighteen- time winner and East Cape Horse Of The Year, Celtic Fire, as well as the ill-fated sprinter, Jimmi Choo,” she says proudly.

They stand the majority of St John Gray’s Graystone Stud horses, and have produced the likes of Gr1 winner Ronnies Candy, Dawn Assault and the incredible DancewiththeDevil.

“While I love the breeding and fertility aspect of the business, Jonathan enjoys the growing and prepping of yearlings for sale and racing – so the combination works well for us.”

In her new position Cathy has a positive outlook for the entire industry. She believes that the changing of structures within local racing will in due course see a stronger, leaner and better run racing industry.

“The tough times we have endured have meant a drastic swing in the likely supply and demand ratio with the national breeding herd having been reduced dramatically. Add improvements in the local scenario and the potential opening of the export market, and those that have hung in there are surely due to reap major rewards. There are actually few industries that have the same potential for growth that breeding enjoys. Hopefully the export market will develop and be made more user friendly.”

Cathy concludes by suggesting this is where something like the Breeders Premium comes into play.

“It is a fund that offers to promote breeding and racing in our province. It is there to assist in the improvement in the quality of the horse being developed.”

To find out more about the KZN Breeders Premium Scheme, click here.

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