Kruglov Sergey Kalistratovich (born July 12, 1966) — a Nizhny Novgorod horse breeder and business manager, an agronomist by training. From 2002 to 2011, he served as director of the federal state institution "Nizhegorodskaya State Stud Farm with Hippodrome," which owned the Nizhny Novgorod hippodrome at Gagarin Avenue, 234. The institution was dissolved on April 22, 2014, when the country's federal stud farms were consolidated into a single company based at the Central Moscow Hippodrome. [1][2][3][4]
Biography
He graduated from the Gorky Agricultural Institute in 1990, specializing in agronomy. From 1991 to 1992, he worked at the Zavolzhye Tracked Tractor Plant in Zavolzhye, and from 1992 to 1994 at the Nizhny Novgorod Construction Technical College. From 2000, he worked at the Nizhegorodskaya State Stud Farm with Hippodrome, and in 2002 became its director [1].
| Years | Place of work and position |
|---|---|
| 1990 | Graduated from the Gorky Agricultural Institute, agronomist [1] |
| 1991–1992 | Zavolzhye Tracked Tractor Plant [1] |
| 1992–1994 | Nizhny Novgorod Construction Technical College [1] |
| 2000–2002 | Nizhny Novgorod State Stud Farm with Racetrack [1] |
| 2002–2011 | Director of the Federal State Institution "Nizhny Novgorod State Stud Farm with Racetrack" [1][2][5] |
Breeding Stable and Racetrack
The institution headed by Kruglov was established in 1993 on the basis of the Nizhny Novgorod racetrack and registered on March 22, 1993; the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia was listed as its founder. Its primary line of activity was classified as a sports facility, with horse breeding as a secondary activity [3][4][6]. The racetrack specializes in trotting: it tests trotters both in sulkies and under saddle, primarily Russian and American breeds, with a small number of Orlov trotters. The prize track is 1,200 meters long; horses are worked at a trot on the inner track, which is 1,000 meters long; traditional prizes are contested every year. The racetrack at [2] 234 Gagarin Avenue featured grandstands, two tracks, an office, stables, paddocks, and service facilities.
Some sources give 1894 as the year the racetrack was founded [2][3]; according to the Central Moscow Racetrack, of whose network it is now a part, the founding date is considered to be the races held on July 23, 1878, whose results were first published by the journal Konnozavodstvo ("Horse Breeding"), while in 1894 the Society for the Encouragement of Trotting Horse Breeding established a second racetrack — on the Gordeyevskie meadows near the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka. In the 1950s the racetrack operated in Leninsky District, then relocated to Scherbinki, where testing has taken place since 1974 on a dirt track measuring 1,200 meters [7].
By autumn 2011, the stable's balance sheet included 44 facilities: a racetrack covering 265 hectares with a racing track of 1.2 kilometers and a working track of 1 kilometer, stables for 160 horses — housing 20 horses belonging to the stable itself and 112 privately owned horses — as well as a 360-hectare plot in Dalnekonstantinovsky District [3].
Federal funding was insufficient. In 2008, the authorities of Nizhny Novgorod Region began transferring the racetrack to regional ownership, but the transfer did not go through: the institution's rights to the federal property had not been registered. Kommersant reported that in recent years the racetrack had virtually ceased to fulfill its functions, only occasionally hosting equestrian competitions and earning revenue mainly from non-core activities — for example, renting out its tracks to extreme driving schools [3].
Kruglov was involved in horse breeding and trotting stud farming, and was a member of the Rosplemkonzavod association and the Sodruzhestvo trotting stud farming association [1]. The stable itself joined the Rosplemkonzavod association on October 4, 2004 [6].
Awards
By Government Decree No. 904-r of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, dated October 27, 2006, "On Commendation," the institution under Kruglov's management was awarded a diploma and a prize — a GAZ-3309 automobile — "for the development of hippodrome affairs and the growth of tested horses" [8].
Dismissal and Liquidation of the Institution
In 2011, Kruglov came into conflict with the territorial department of Rosimushchestvo (Federal Property Management Agency) for the Nizhny Novgorod Region, which represented the owner. The department's claims concerned the leasing of hippodrome premises and the registration of its assets. After conducting its own inspection in June, it referred the matter to the prosecutor's office of Prioksky District. The prosecutor's office confirmed that the federal property had not been registered and issued a representation demanding that the violations be remedied, but found no grounds for holding the management liable [5].
Rosimushchestvo then proposed to the Ministry of Agriculture that the director be replaced. In late September 2011, Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik dismissed Kruglov and appointed Aleksandr Kudrin — nominated by the department — in his place, but a few days later an order was signed for the liquidation of the institution. Kruglov considered his dismissal unlawful, continued conducting business operations at the hippodrome, and did not rule out taking the matter to court [5].
The copy of the dismissal order presented to me by the supposed new director of the hippodrome contains neither a registration number nor a date, and I personally traveled to Moscow to the Ministry of Agriculture — there was no dismissal order whatsoever
The Fate of the Hippodrome
The liquidation was part of a consolidation of the assets of all 27 federal stud stables under the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Central Moscow Hippodrome," which was subsequently to be reorganized into an open joint-stock company with one hundred percent state participation; President Dmitry Medvedev signed the relevant decree on August 8, 2011, and the regional hippodromes were to become branches of the new company. The liquidation commission was headed by Maksim Rabin, Deputy Head of the territorial department of Rosimushchestvo, to whom the powers of the institution's management were transferred; by the end of 2011 the commission was required to register the rights to the assets and transfer them to the Central Moscow Hippodrome [3].
M. B. Rabin was listed as head of the institution from November 28, 2011; the liquidation was completed on April 22, 2014 [4][6]. In the spring of 2018, JSC Rossiyskiye Ippodromy (Russian Hippodromes) mothballed the Nizhny Novgorod hippodrome, citing the dilapidated state of the buildings and high taxes; horse owners appealed to the Governor not to allow the closure [9].
Sources
- Who's Who in Nizhny Novgorod Region — Biographical Reference Book. Issue 5. — Nizhny Novgorod: "Nash Dom" group, 2009, p. 102 — Who's Who in Nizhny Novgorod Region. Issue 5
- horse-ural.ru — Directory of Hippodromes — Nizhny Novgorod Hippodrome, Gagarin Avenue, 234: director Kruglov Sergey Kalistratovich (archive)
- Kommersant (Volga Region) — Nizhny Novgorod, October 25, 2011 — A Horse Harness. The Nizhny Novgorod Hippodrome is being merged with the Moscow one (archive)
- xfirm.ru — Extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities — Federal State Institution "State Stud Farm 'Nizhegorodskaya' with Hippodrome", TIN 5261010531, OGRN 1025203566255: registered March 22, 1993, liquidated April 22, 2014
- Kommersant (Volga Region) — Kommersant (Nizhny Novgorod) — No. 200, October 25, 2011, p. 11 — Former hippodrome director considers his dismissal unlawful (archive)
- checko.ru — Chekko — Unified State Register of Legal Entities data — Federal State Institution "State Stud Farm 'Nizhegorodskaya' with Hippodrome": types of activity, founder, history of changes
- cmh.ru — Central Moscow Hippodrome — Nizhny Novgorod Hippodrome: history (archive)
- base.garant.ru — GARANT — Order of the Government of Nizhny Novgorod Region dated October 27, 2006, No. 904-r "On Commendation"
- Kommersant (Volga Region) — Kommersant (Nizhny Novgorod) — No. 84, May 18, 2018, p. 12 — A Horse Dispute. The hippodrome in Nizhny Novgorod is being closed until better times (archive)