From all angles, times are tough at the track
By Max Presnell | smh.com.au | 05 September
No one here works for the benefit of racing, only for themselves." So said Shane Dye, seasoned with Hong Kong experience, on the state of what he described as "the product" in NSW.
Col Tidy, a veteran fielder for 30 years in betting rings, warned of another major problem, concerning bookmakers being forced interstate. "The loss of Tom Waterhouse in Sydney will be horrendous," he said. "Racing is becoming too expensive. The little bloke, the garbo who raced a horse in a syndicate, is being priced out."
Trainers have it tougher than most in racing, and Clarry Conners has stood the test of time. Asked how the industry compared with a decade ago, he replied: "Well, it's 10 years down the track." The emphasis was on down.
Stephen van Eyk, an owner, breeder and enthusiast, is president of the NSW Racehorse Owners Association and can see the latest "general squeeze on owners" changing the face of the turf. "One of the great things about Australian racing is that it is spread over so many people, including battling owners and trainers," he said. "They are finding the cost increases too hard to bear."
The four represent different factions of the sport, industry or product. NSW racing has just weathered its greatest typhoon, equine influenza, last year followed by World Youth Day, which had the potential to add another chapter of woe. Fortunately, the result was better than anticipated, and racing returns to Randwick on Saturday for what is hoped will be a gala occasion. Overall, though, the recent trend is disappointing.
Take the trainers' dispute at Randwick. Mediation talks on Tuesday concerning rents and track fees with Australian Jockey Club officials had the combatants in separate rooms. That was normal procedure, someone said.
If Sydney Turf Club directors such as Alan Brown, Bill Picken, John Holloway or Nick Moraitis couldn't meet Rosehill trainers over a table to discuss grievances, I'll go to a Buddhist retreat for a month. "See the trouble the trainers are having with the AJC," Dye pointed out. "Things like that just don't happen in Hong Kong because everyone is working to make the product better. You've got a problem and you go to the club and they fix it. The trouble here is the clubs, the AJC or whatever [Racing NSW], don't want to know about anything and never have."
Van Eyk sees the AJC at the "vanguard of cost rises". "Some trainers are charging up to $100 a day [per horse], and owners are going elsewhere," he said. "We had some prizemoney relief last year but that is being eroded."
Another concerns for Dye is opposition to the "Racing For Our Lives" campaign which calls for a 1 per cent increase from the prizemoney pool to go into safeguarding jockeys by increasing compulsory liability premiums, supporting the accident scheme and the families of jockeys injured or killed.
Again owners will be hit, not for an enormous amount, but Van Eyk stresses it's "more chipping away".
Dye is adamant: "Jockeys in Australia are one of the worst-paid in the world. And that's a fact. We get 50 per cent less now than we once did. Yet how many people here say jockeys get too much money. At least two jockeys get killed every year, and consider the injuries ..."
Conners, who teamed well with Dye, particularly in the Golden Slipper, has no problem with a better deal for jockeys "as long as the little blokes like Tony Marney, and those in the bush get the benefit. [So] it's not a matter of the rich getting richer."
Other aspects of the industry, though, concern him. "I don't see an operation like Darley with so many horses being all that beneficial, and [finding] stable staff is now worrying," he said. "You can't find horsemen any more. We are getting people from places like the Ukraine and India on working visas. Willing, yes, but experienced?
"The rating system for races doesn't seem to be working and no Wednesday meeting [in Sydney or at the provincials] this week is difficult to believe. Remember when we had the midweek [city meeting] on Wednesdays, the provincials Thursday and the big Saturday? Wasn't it good."
On Saturday at headquarters, Waterhouse will do his last circuits of the betting ring before heading for greener pastures in Melbourne. "Not only is he the biggest bookmaker in Sydney but the biggest punter," Tidy said.
The new race fields legislation was expected to bolster the NSW coffers but the Waterhouse switch will leave a deficit. "And what's happening to our [Sydney's] spring carnival?" Tidy asked. "Many of the best horses have already gone south."
Class events with strong betting turnover are the great hope of the industry but strategies are needed to compete with the opposition, such as casinos, Dye said.
"Racing has been around so long, [the] support, it is taken for granted," he explained. "If you go to a casino you get free food and drinks. They'll give a percentage back from money you lose, they'll give you free papers to show you how to play a game. In Hong Kong the jockey club gives a rebate, too, on $10,000-and-over losing bets. Go to the racecourse here and you've got to pay to get in, buy a book, pay for food and drink and then you're expected to bet. Why would you want to go?"
First published by Smh.com.au on September 05 2008
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