October
AugustOwners can share
A representative of Moonee Valley stated last week that the reason for giving prizes to trainers and jockeys (rather than the owners who pay their daily wages and own the horses) was that current trends in syndication meant that prizes may have to be split amongst multiple owners.
Pardon me? Do we still give a Melbourne Cup trophy — or do we just assume it will be won by a syndicate and therefore we shouldn’t bother with a trophy? (It would just cause trouble, apparently.)
The fact is, owners have long been working out ways to split trophies, big and small. As a general rule, they manage it — and if it’s a problem, it’s a good problem to have.
Moonee Valley has chosen to give bonuses to the trainer because they know that, as a general rule, most horse programs are controlled by the trainer.
Such enticements to those in charge of spending others’ money are usually less direct and less blatant — or at least controlled by some professional body. But the racing industry has no shame when it comes to exploiting racehorse owners.
A large inducement — like that successfully gained by Robert Smerdon when he set an unusually large number of his owners’ horses for Warnambool — is deemed an appropriate and successful tactic to entice trainers to compromise their responsibility to owners.
Trainers and jockeys have a higher profile than owners, so there is added benefit in marketing return for the dollar. Everybody wins — except the poor old owner, who is dudded again.
Racing right now is seriously tough for the small owner. Generating so-called prize returns and then handing them out to all and sundry except those who get all the bills is a recipe for irritation, discord and disillusionment.
Elwood (Vic)