Cover image courtesy of TBNSW
Esplin, the principal of Tartan Fields and a respected solicitor, has been a director on the board of Thoroughbred Breeders NSW (TBNSW) for five years, and after serving time as Vice President, steps into the key role, replacing Kooringal Stud's Stuart Lamont.
He is renowned for his strong but considered opinions and thoughts on the thoroughbred industry and sees it as a key responsibility to step up and lead discussions around reform of the industry and its relationship with the broader community.
Hamish Esplin | Image courtesy of Esplin Solicitors
"I guess I'm one of those altruistic people who always feel you have to do your bit. You have to try and further the cause," he told TDN AusNZ.
"If you are going to be involved in the industry and have opinions about it, which I seem to have too many of, you have to put your hand up to do so."
The role of Vice President will be fulfilled by breeder and media professional Caroline Searcy, while Godolphin Australia's Managing Director Vin Cox and Twin Hills Stud principal Olly Tait were also re-elected as directors of TBNSW.
Caroline Searcy | Image courtesy of Inglis
Esplin said he felt it was important for a body like Thoroughbred Breeders NSW to not only represent its own best interests but to engage with the major players in the industry to facilitate open and honest discussions around key issues.
"In future we want to work with those people who might have an opinion in private, but there is a need for those opinions to be put publicly, so they can be discussed. We have to advocate for that," he said.
"In future we want to work with those people who might have an opinion in private, but there is a need for those opinions to be put publicly, so they can be discussed. We have to advocate for that." - Hamish Esplin
"We are not a hugely funded organisation, we don't pretend to control or determine issues of policy, but what we do say is that we have some voice, albeit small, and if you have to have that voice, you have an obligation to say what it is you are feeling.
"Otherwise, you just become that person at the bar who whinges. We all do it, but the beauty of this industry, it is fuelled by opinion, possibly more than most others.
"I'm not one to say that opinions should reside in a private meeting, or around a board table, or at a yearling sale. We have to be down there trying to advocate on behalf of the stakeholders, otherwise things don't happen or change," he said.
The challenge of complacency
Esplin said it was particularly important at the current time. He believes the rude commercial health of both the racing and breeding industry is masking some major ongoing challenges.
"It’s a funny time at the moment for the industry. It’s doing very well, but the level of navel-gazing is probably greater than I've ever seen," he said.
"It’s a funny time at the moment for the industry. It’s doing very well, but the level of navel-gazing is probably greater than I've ever seen." - Hamish Esplin
Esplin sees the way racing is programmed and structured, both within New South Wales and nationally as one major challenge, as well as thoroughbred welfare, an issue brought to prominence by the extensive report of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Welfare Working Group (TAWWG), which was released this week.
He also sees staffing, in particular career pathways for those coming into the breeding industry, as an ongoing challenge, while the ongoing commercial prosperity of the industry was something that he also believes needs to be addressed, rather than just a reliance on what has worked before.
"We are very lucky in this country, we have done so many things right," he said.
"We are very lucky in this country, we have done so many things right." - Hamish Esplin
"That has been a legacy built from 20 years ago of getting key structures right, when other countries and jurisdictions sat there and seemed to kick stones down the footpath, saying why can’t we be better?
"In New South Wales in particular, as well as nationally, there were some hard decisions made early on and they were the right ones and the sport has been the beneficiary of that ever since.
Inglis Riverside Stables | Image courtesy of TBNSW
"The racing and breeding game has doubled in 10 years in crude terms and that is a remarkable thing to happen
"But you can always get bigger and better. That should be the aim of any commercial operation and they are who we represent."
The power of relationships
What Esplin wants Thoroughbred Breeders NSW to do is help facilitate an environment which encourages much more co-operative relationships between all stakeholders.
Yearlings | Image courtesy of TBNSW
"Currently the biggest hurdle is that there are key relationships that need to be improved in all aspects. From breeders to racing administrators, breeders to the public, breeding to owners, all sorts of things," he said.
"You have to keep working at it, you can't just say racing is great, breeding is great.
"It’s the method of communicating which is important and that's why we are in a difficult place at the moment."
"It’s the method of communicating which is important and that's why we are in a difficult place at the moment." - Hamish Esplin
Esplin also paid tribute to outgoing President Stuart Lamont.
"Stuart has been a wonderful voice of experience and knowledge as our President and importantly represented breeders from the southern region of NSW which TBNSW is keen to promote alongside the larger breeding district of the Hunter Valley and other regions in the state," he said.
