Australian Stud Book

An integrated database solution designed by Fujitsu Australia has improved the speed and accuracy of a records management system that lies at the heart of Australia's $7 billion horse-racing industry.

With the second largest thoroughbred population in the world behind the United States, Australia is the world leader in racehorse ownership on a per capita basis. The country also boasts more race clubs and racecourses than any other nation on Earth.

The centrepiece of this massive industry is the thoroughbred racehorse. Thoroughbreds are defined by time-honoured rules of breeding and progeny, and the official bloodline records of every thoroughbred are kept in what is known in the industry as a 'stud book'.

The Australian Stud Book refers to both the breeding records and the organisation responsible for the accuracy, quality and integrity of those records. Last racing season alone, about 18,000 foals were born from more than 26,000 mares served by more than 1,000 stallions. As well as recording parentage, the Stud Book provides information for national and international use, including industry population, breeding statistics and trends.

The original Australian Stud Book started in 1878 and contains records dating back to the 17th century. Since 1910 the Stud Book has been a joint venture between the Australian Jockey Club (AJC) and Victoria Racing Club (VRC), with records management handled by a department of the AJC at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.

The Australian Stud Book established an Internet presence in 1996, but recently Fujitsu helped the AJC enhance the Web site to make life easier for breeders - and for the organisation itself.

Breeders are required to lodge official forms each year detailing their intention to use stallions and mares, and the outcome of such matings. The mare 'return' is the result of the mare's service for that year - whether it gave birth to a live foal, its colour and sex, and details about the breeder's plans for next year.

Previously, breeders used paper and post to record this information. Now, an interactive feature called Online Mare Returns allows breeders throughout the country to report their activities online.

"It's the first time the site has been used to collect information from breeders - previously it was only ever a publishing vehicle," says Eric Richardson, the AJC's Systems Development Manager. "Using the Web site to exchange information with breeders is important, because this is a business where some stallions cost $100,000 per service. The leading sires commute between hemispheres and can service up to 150 mares a year. Other stallions cost $500 a service and they serve two mares a year. The Australian Stud Book monitors them all.

"It is a big business that involves big money, so accurate records are vital."

Fujitsu solution streamlines communication between breeders and the AJC

The online version of the Australian Stud Book went live at the beginning of September 2003. Richardson says the Stud Book previously used a mainframe platform, which made data extraction for the Internet database a long process that could only happen at weekends. When Fujitsu helped migrate the Stud Book to a Windows 2000/SQL Server 2000 environment, the data extraction process was cut to two hours. This gave the Stud Book the opportunity to create the online mare return feature as the Internet database could be refreshed daily so that returns entered by a breeder would be reflected on the Web site the following day.

Fujitsu and the Stud Book realised that they needed a means of identifying breeders, so they issued them with a 'contact breeder card'. The card contains an identification number and a unique breeder number used on all correspondence between the Stud Book and breeders. When used with a password, the number also allows breeders to submit returns for mares and stallions to the Stud Book via the Web site.

The big breeders - some of them multinational stud businesses with links to the US, Europe, Ireland and the UK - can return up to 300 mares each year. The Online Mare Returns feature means they can meet their obligations to the industry without having to re-enter their details each time. At the other end of the breeding industry spectrum, the lone operator with one mare in a paddock and dreams of breeding a champion racehorse can also save time and money. Breeders are not the only ones who benefit from having the Australian Stud Book online.

"The professionals who use the Web site to check the progress of their thoroughbred love the convenience, but we also get people who have bought an ex-racehorse for showing and they want to find out more about it," Richardson says. "It is also useful to people studying thoroughbred husbandry at college."

New system guarantees accurate information and reduces administration

Richardson says one of the great benefits of the online facility - due to the way Fujitsu and the AJC team designed the new interactive system - is that the Australian Stud Book can now guarantee it receives only valid data from breeders.

"With paper forms, in a high percentage of cases, we get mistakes," Richardson says. "Sometimes, breeders even return mares that are not registered. Any form that has any type of mistake, however small, has to go back to the breeder for correction. This is a time-consuming process because often you don't discover the return is wrong until you try the data entry. By that time, you may have already banked the breeder's cheque. Mistakes create a lot of extra work.

"Online returns are much more accurate because we only send Fujitsu the names of mares that are valid to be returned. The mares have to meet certain conditions. They must have a continuous record with the Stud Book, be DNA tested, and of course, they have to be in the country."

For progeny to be eligible for the Australian Stud Book, their official records must contain four documents recording the activities of their sire and their dam. Breeders must also lodge a mare return form for every mare every foaling season, regardless of whether she is serviced or not. A mare that has a live foal must have a return form lodged within 30 days of foaling - and the online reporting process ensures this obligation is easily met.

"We've had cases where the foal has been born at 5am, the breeder has lodged the return by 7am, the registration money is in the bank at start of business and the return is online later that day," says Richardson. "The alternative is to post the information. Quite often, the breeders hang onto their returns and post them in a batch, which slows the whole reporting system.

"The big studs think the online return system is wonderful because they lodge their returns, they get a tax invoice back straight away, they get a 5 per cent discount on fees, and they can match it all up with their paperwork. When they had to batch and post their returns, they would have to match their paperwork when the replies came back from the Stud Book."

Richardson believes the major Australian studs, such as Woodlands or Coolmore, would use the system every day during the peak of the breeding season - from early September to December. The Australian Stud Book now gets returns for about 30,000 mares a year and it expects up to 30 per cent of returns to be processed through the system during the 2004 foaling season.

The growth in use of the Web site has been phenomenal. In its first week of operation in 1996, it attracted 8,000 hits. In the last few months of 2003 usage surpassed 2 million hits per month, shared between about 65,000 regular users.

"The US has a similar online service, but ours is more intuitive so people find it very easy to use," says Richardson. "We worked with Fujitsu to get the design right and organise the transfer of information to and from our main database. It is all going like clockwork thanks to the .NET infrastructure."

A basis for further improvement

Richardson says breeders are grateful to the Australian Stud Book for streamlining a process that often caused headaches and needless cost. The Web site has reduced the number of phone calls and queries between breeders and the Stud Book, complaints have virtually disappeared, and the previous correspondence backlog of four months quickly dissolved.

"We will always cater for people who want to fill in a paper form and post a cheque," says Richardson. "However, a lot of people on the land have embraced the Internet to combat the tyranny of distance and the experience will only get better for them.

"From the Stud Book's point of view, this is phase one and it has been very successful. The aim is to get breeders and vets using the Internet as their preferred tool for all future communication. We also plan to provide full credit card payment processing soon, so we can look forward to more savings of time and money - as well as breeding more winners."