In the same week Canadian champion Moira makes her Australian debut in the Doncaster Mile, the thoroughbred industry in her home country is facing an existential threat from the looming imposition of US tariffs.
On April 2, the day after April Fools’ Day, the US government will reveal its “Liberation Day” tariffs. The world, including the racing world, but mostly Canada, is on edge.
Canada is bracing for a 25 per cent blanket tax on all Canadian goods entering the US and has threatened to respond with an estimated $30 billion reverse tax.
In horse racing, as with many other industries, there has always been enormous goodwill, symmetry and healthy competition between the US and Canada. The US has always packed more punch but Canadians have had both a vibrant local racing scene and a history of mixing it with the best across a border that has, since November, become a chasm.
Northern Dancer was a Canadian horse. Without him, many of those lavish Kentucky horse farms would never have had the seed to create generations of champion horses. His influence was felt around the world, especially here in Australia.
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