The global thoroughbred racing and breeding industry "welcomed the Federal Court finding in favour of the definition of a thoroughbred under the rules of racing," according to Brendan Cormick of THE AUSTRALIAN. Auction house Inglis Managing Dir Mark Webster said that the outcome "was important" because a finding allowing artificial insemination in the thoroughbred code, as is the case with standardbreds, would have had "a dramatic effect locally and destabilised the thoroughbred marketplace worldwide." Webster said, "Australia is the second-biggest breeding ground in the world behind the U.S. I don't think the global industry wanted to see the No. 2 player enter the AI space and, effectively, be disqualified from international competition." The court case, driven by former rails bookmaker and one-time Sydney Turf Club Chair Bruce McHugh, a successful breeder of thoroughbreds, "sought the lifting of the ban on the artificial insemination of thoroughbreds in Australia." Int'l rules state that "only horses conceived by copulation between a mare and a stallion can be registered for the purpose of racing and breeding" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 12/20).
