Ramblings Of A Mad Man

After following the recent letters to the editor in recent sporting posts I felt it was time to pull my pen out of retirement and react.  I like to think of it as my ‘Jerry Maguire” moment, I only hope that I don’t befall the same fate as this gentleman, but I suppose the ultimate theme of this mission statement could well be ‘Show me the Money!’

Veterinarians have long been an integral part of our industry.  Love or hate them they are here to stay and form a crucial part of our industry and well being of our horse.  Yes they are expensive.  I know this because I review a lot of our clients bills before sending them out.  I also am fully aware of their cost because I am an extremely large owner myself (not just in body mass!) and I can assure you I get no favours from them either.  Having a horse in training these days is probably in excess of +-R5000 a month and yes Vets can quite easily match this figure without much being wrong with your pride and joy.  But that is the crux of the matter, if you cannot exercise your horse it cannot run, your training fees start looking very expensive and the veterinary surgeon can, dare I say it, start to look cheap.  I’m sure there is some scientific study on how many catch up days it takes for every day your horse stands doing nothing in its stable and it most definitely would accelerate upwards at an alarming rate for each stationery day. On a final note on veterinarians and their fees, I totally agree with the one reader that their price structuring is a complete cartel.  Any other walk of life they would be prosecuted under the Competitions Commissions Act.  Sadly I do not pretend to have a solution to this.  What I do know and am fully aware of is that  the good paying clients of these professionals are the ones that are funding or even dare I say it causing medicines and treatments to be far more expensive than they need be.  Whilst the Vet can only write of and carry so much bad debt, the rest ends up getting shared out in their costing eventually to those mug owners who believe in paying their bills.  The owner’s that pay their bills are the ones that suffer.

We try all sorts of methods to keep our horses sound and happy.  Whether it be equine chiropractors, equine physios, acupuncture, specialist farrier’s, magnetopulses.  We operate three of them and the average cost of each machine is in excess of R35000 each for no charge.  It is up to each individual trainer how he tries to eke out his owners budget in keeping their horses sound and happy.  I can assure you its not a conspiracy.  We all want what’s best for the horse for the least amount of money, it may not seem that way, but it is the truth, trying to juggle other peoples, hard earned cash with your “authority to act” into the most economic and productive channels into your horse is not as easy as you might think.  Who would want to be the decision maker at 12 o’clock at night when your horse has contracted colic, standing there with your vet, who then has to call up a whole team of qualified personnel in the middle of the night deciding if ‘Champion the Wonder Horse’ is worth the R30000 colic surgery and rehab with no guarantees or a bullet?  Those are the types of life and death decisions, regularly taken in this industry on an everyday basis.

We Want Better

We have in South Africa some of the most difficult conditions whether it be climatic, weather, training facilities and race course surfaces in the world to contend with.  No matter where in South Africa you would care to go, most of our training surfaces and facilities are not up to scratch, with possibly what we are paying for purchase prices now for horses. This heads us onto yet again the dreaded veterinarians. Poor facilities are not his fault and he/she, like us must work around them, and make the best of a bad job.  Should stable rent be far more expensive? Yes it should, instead we have Phumelela and Gold Circle subsidizing our stable rent so we can continue having the bare minimum facilities. The time has come for us all in the industry to say we want better. If that means increased stabling fees that goes toward a superior facility I’m all for it.  It seems ludicrous that we are prepared to pay millions of Rands on thoroughbreds, to send them out on training tracks that have not been improved (notice I did not say maintained) in decades.  Clairwood is a prime example of this.  I am a member of a Golf Club.  If we want to do improvements to the course and we do not have enough money in the Club Kitty we as members have to dig deep into out pockets for the improvements and thus reap the benefits.  Should racing in these times of economic recession be any different?

I can’t remember if I read my next point in the Sporting Post or other racing related mouth piece (are there any others?). It is an issue that is close to my heart and my purse strings.  I read somewhere that there are not enough races for horses in training in this country, and that administrators and race planners were not giving a fair deal.  What I am about to say will no doubt make me hugely unpopular with my fellow professionals, but as I said earlier the time has come, and I want to have my say no matter what.

The fact is when complaints come in about there not being enough races available, a very small number of races are actually filled.  The next time you open your race card or newspaper, have a look and see how many of the races are actually filled to capacity?  In certain races yes and at certain times of year it can be a problem and 50% of the time our administrators come to our aid, but if you are not filling what you have got how on earth can you put any more on?  I have been privileged to represent the Western Province Trainers for some time and it has been an honour.  We have met to do various exercises and bring in new ideas to try and boost fields and racing.  Let’s remember bigger fields do ultimately lead to bigger pools.  Some sadly falls on deaf ears, others are tried, others forgotten.

Luck Of The Draw

Drawing your barrier position after acceptance was what I regard as probably my greatest achievement whilst serving these various committees.  We tried this for a month period at Durbanville to try and boost field sizes and do you know what? It actually worked!  Unfortunately after some complaints from people who always felt that whenever they entered a horse they were automatically entitled to think that they should be drawn in pole position, it was allowed to slip away despite the majority of trainers voting for it in the first place.  It was an extremely disappointing matter to see our administrators weaken and capitulate for a minority who were unhappy, despite being unable to produce any fact or evidence to the contrary as to why it should be any different to them as to anybody else. We are the only racing country in the world that I know of that continues to draw its barrier positions when entries are submitted and not after time of final acceptance. South Africa is a leader in many fields but surely this should tell you something. 

We as trainers are too often swayed by the draw in races when it comes to running our horses.  How often do you see horses running over an unsuitable distance just because it was drawn, poorly in a race over its right trip!  Absolute madness!  If you feel you have a 1400m horse or miler what on earth are you doing running it over 1200m at Durbanville just because it is drawn 1 and vice versa.  Yet it happens! Regularly!

Bright Ideas

In Gold Circle-land we have the ludicrous state of affairs of having, free, yes FREE nominations.  If you are reading this overseas you must be thinking that we are mad and you know what? We get entries running into the 100’s for certain races that we never end up filling!  I get trainers asking me to ask the club to “split” races because of the size and draw.  Sadly the administrators most of the time say no because what’s the difference being drawn 100/100 or 50/50 the trainer has it in his mind that he or she is still not going to run because of the draw, not because it is actually the correct race for the animal.  So the split ends up not filling, the clubs don’t do it again and we say how unfair and unreasonable they are because they do not want to lose money.  If we want more races we as trainers and owners have to prove it by running and filling the race available to us.  Why should there be more races available to us when we don’t use or fill what we have. I am all for three runner fields but I like to think I live in the real world.

Every year we appear to be paying more and more at the Yearling sales and if we are lucky enough, to export them, to race overseas there is extremely good money on offer around. I have been privileged enough to serve on various committees and twice a year at least the issue of stake increases comes to the table. Normally the various entities running racing bend over backwards and try to accommodate due the reasons above. Despite the often frequent financial difficulties and perils it can bring. At present levels we are never going to keep pace with spiraling yearling costs and commodities that go into keeping your racehorse a finally tuned athlete. The gulf is getting wider and wider every year and looks unlikely to stop. The current recession we are in looks set to continue at least for a couple more years, if you listen to the experts that control our country, banks and big businesses. How can we improve prize money levels, have more racing and try to retrieve more return to the ever sporting owner?

During a lively supper debate I came up with the bright idea of making entries hugely more expensive, or in our case down here, people actually paying for the privilege to run! Obviously what I am about to say is just a rough idea, but what would happen if you had made entries at R2000 per horse and this was then added to the prize money on offer already at present, let’s say this course of action were to cut our maiden entry down by half because we would then put an end to all those draw time wasters, people galloping their horses for free on the racecourse and entries in races that are totally unsuitable for the animal involved. We could actually end up racing maidens for prize money worth in excess of R150.000. Now that’s what I would call a return. Why should we restrict it to just maiden’s, surely this is something that could be implemented intelligently across the board. I have spoken to many people about this, from industry leaders to people who work for salaries, and to my face, I have not yet received one piece of negative criticism. Yes this idea is obviously un-worked but is it impossible? I don’t think so. I am not a hugely wealthy person and for the love of the sport and various unforeseen circumstances I end up owning far more horses and pieces of horses that I can afford or should have. Would I be prepared to pay this type of money to run for large sums? Of course I would. Surely it must cut out all the wasted entries and, dare I say it, runners that have little bearing or impact on our industry in the long term. Like every other industry racing also needs to streamline and tighten its belts. The time for the non paying passengers must surely go. Whether we like it or not racing is an elite sport, horses are expensive to buy and produce, raw material costs are spiraling, wages are going through the roof, we only have to look at the Government capitulating to the SABC and municipal workers, giving them pay rises close to 15% in a calendar year to know this, despite inflation running at fifty percent less than this.

I am sure that those who bother to read this will say that I am talking from an unrealistic and elevated position. Twelve years ago we started with nothing and a string of five horses, I feel I am in a position to say I have been, seen and done most of it all along the way. While a lot of people I am sure will feel these are just mindless ramblings of a spoilt man, our industry surely needs a huge kick up the arse along the way. I would like to add that these points of view are my own and nothing to do with the Gold Circle Regional Board that I am lucky enough to serve. These men and women put many many man hours a week into the betterment of horse racing for little or no gratitude and it is a privilege to serve along side them.

Accolades

Finally my congratulations go, first of all to Charles Laird on his trainer’s title and levels of prize money he and his stable have earned, a truly super human achievement. Mentioning humans, I am not sure if I could put Andrew Fortune in the same breath. Winning the jockeys championship makes me very proud indeed. Despite the fact working along side Andrew for the year has not been a bed of roses, his frequent suspensions, of which from an objective point of view he was well worth 70% of them, the other thirty, let’s just say I am not sure whoever dished them out were watching the same races as me. These have been extremely hard to take, along with Andrew’s total disregard for his weight and self discipline. But at the end of the day he never failed to bring a smile to my face, no matter what he had done. When Andrew first told me he was going for the jockey’s championship at the beginning of the season I nearly had a coronary I laughed so much and back then he was capable of riding 56 kilos! Towards the end of the season the man could barely do 58. I am sure Andrew is still laughing at me now. Andrew is about to go on a three month enforced sabbatical which sadly he has well earned from the NHRA. I dearly hope he comes back the same man he was 18 months ago with the same love of horses and the job. A trip to a surgeon to have a gastric band fitted would probably not be the worst call he would make in his life. Well done Andrew.

Public Letters

A response to writings of Joey Ramsden from issue #1545
Joey Ramsden was wide ranging in his views last week, but, as usual, had positive suggestions to go with them.
One particular irritant for me, as for many owners, is being dictated to by the draw. After a string of 84/85, 57/75, 39/64 —as actually happened to me recently— you give in and accept running over an unsuitable distance just because it is a race you can get into.
Drawing after acceptance is such an obvious solution.
Would the Administrators Joey referred to, or their successors, be prepared to write to Sporting Post, setting out the presumably very sound reasons why we are the only major racing operation to continue to draw barrier positions at time of entry, despite in Joey’s words “the majority of trainers voting for a draw after acceptance”.
Imagine linking this change with the introduction of an entry fee.
Suddenly the owner and trainer could set out a plan, and the days of blindly entering a 3yro maiden for every available race between 1000m and 1800m to see what turns up would be gone for ever.
Martin Wickens, via email

Just Joey
What a pleasure it was to read Joey’s return to the Sporting Post! Just a brilliant read.I must admit I rarely buy the SP these days but I can assure you one of the reasons for this was a lack of articles from people like Joey and Robert Bloomberg. Love them or hate them both these gentlemen are true professionals and have horse racing at heart.
PS: I was watching racing in France yesterday and was amazed at how many people were on course for the day!.....What racing needs in this country is a love for the horse....inculcate that in people and you’ll see more people on course!
Sarvan Naidoo, via email