Throughout Islamic history, horse racing and breeding of good horses have held an honourable place. Pakistan continued breeding thoroughbred horses as was being done before partition of India in 1947. The Jockey Club of Pakistan chartered by the Government of Pakistan is the only supreme controlling authority of horse breeding and horse racing in Pakistan.
At present there are forty registered horse breeding studs in all the four provinces of Pakistan. There are ninety eight thoroughbred stallions out of which thirty four are imported and sixty four are Pakistan bred. There are six hundred and fifty three thoroughbred mares out of which one hundred and twenty are imported and five hundred and thirty three are Pakistan bred. On average yearly there are hundred and fifty foals. The main import of horses is from Great Britain/Ireland and some from France and USA. Pakistan has not been able to export any horse despite their high quality and low price because The Stud Book of Pakistan is approved since 10th November 2020.
Pakistan has three active race courses in Pakistan at Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi. On average there are one hundred and thirty race days in a year. The total races run in a year are about seven hundred and fifty. The locally produced thoroughbred horses have been performing very well at the various race courses in the country.
The SBA’s rules are published in Stud Book etc. For Parentage verification the SBA is in contract with Weatherbys DNA Laboratory which is Institutional Member of the International Society of Animal Genetics (ISAG) and is Rank 1 laboratory of ISAG. The SBA published full details of annual foal crop in the Stud Book.
The control of the Thoroughbred Stud Book of Pakistan is vested only in Jockey Club of Pakistan by a notification of the Government of Pakistan. The SBA is responsible to review the rule/conditions of entry to the Stud Book. The SBA is member of Asian Racing Federation.
The SBA mostly sends delegates to the world region Stud Book Committee. The SBA has effective communication system with other Stud Book Authorities.
The SBA strictly complies with the IABRW’s Article 12 concerning eligibility of horse to be recorded in a Thoroughbred Stud Book and SBA rules in general are incorporated in Stud Book rules for Thoroughbred horse entry. These rules are prominently published is the Stud Book.
The SBA prohibits and ensures that Artificial Insemination, embryo transfer or transplant, cloning or any other form of genetic manipulations is not practiced. On import of horse DNA profile is being obtained and after verifying the horses identify than is registered for breeding.
The stallion covering return details contains all the required details such as mares covered, first and last covering etc. The mares covered abroad are only registered on receipt of official covering certificate from abroad.
The mares are registered for breeding after SBA verifies the identity of the mare and the name is given. The DNA profile of the mare imported is kept in record. The SBA maintains record of ownership of horses as well. The broodmare covering return is being submitted on the official document.
Identification of horses is being done through marking certificate, which contain both narrative and graphic description. Already invogue system of identification in addition to identification marking is branding which is being converted to microchipping.
Record is being maintained for all imported horses and import documents are required for registration of such horses including export certificates etc.
Malik Adnan Hayat Noon
Chairperson