October
SeptemberShier the better
I wish to comment on Richard Callander’s article "Camera shy" in your September 8 edition.
Callander is critical of trainers who avoid being interviewed before a race, and lists six trainers, all household names, who jump at the opportunity to be seen on television by potential clients.
As Callander says, these trainers train the majority of (Sydney) winners each season, and he has difficulty in understanding why other trainers are so reluctant to be interviewed.
It should be pointed out that every trainer mentioned by Callander is in an elite class. They go to all the top sales with what seems like unlimited credit, enabling them to purchase the elite horses. These are then sold on or syndicated out to their elite clients from the leafy suburbs, who will race their horses in the big prizemoney races that abound on our racing calendar.
Callander frequently says he is for the battler. Well, Richard, my pals and I are in the battler class. Oh, we are comfortably self-funded retirees, but we are far from wealthy. Not for us the six- and seven-figure purchases at the top sales. In fact we struggle to share in the lower five-figure range for our purchases.
Not for us the elite trainers who charge high fees and engage the top vets and subcontractors at top-of-the-range prices. No, we have to choose a trainer, like us, in the battling class. We are certainly not influenced in our choice of trainer by any interview Callander may do on TVN. To suggest any prospective client may be so influenced is a very conceited attitude.
We choose a trainer we can afford who impresses us with his proven ability, his locality, and most of all his integrity. Not because Callander has had him on TV. In fact we would be inclined to go the opposite way. You see, our buying power confines us to ordinary, mediocre horses who race for ordinary, mediocre prizemoney. None of us expects to make a profit from racing, but as at times we struggle to meet the bills, the only chance we have of reducing our costs is on the punt.
If our trainer encourages us to do so, we will back our horse, and because of our position a point’s difference in the betting is extremely important to us. We would certainly not be impressed if Callander or any other interviewer spoke with our trainer before the race and cost us our market.
The elite clients of the Waterhouses, Wallers and O’Sheas are wealthy and probably not interested in the punt. If they do have a flutter it would make little difference to them the price — nor should it when they are racing for a six-figure prizemoney payout, the added value to their horse and the social prestige of owning the winner of such a race.
Finally, if Callander is so concerned about the battlers, why doesn’t he interview the jockeys or connections of those horses he sells to the battlers (on behalf of his sponsor) as a "huge go", then ignores it if they get beaten.
I am sure your battler mates would rather hear what the hell happened to the Huge Go rather than the usual and endless platitudes of winning jockeys and trainers.
Brighton (Qld)