October
AugustTraining means business
The recent Herald Sun article on non-paying owners (24/7) shows industry complacency has set in. It has shown that all are struggling in this industry — not just owners, but trainers as well. Over the last 3-5 years, training fees have increased by more than 35 percent but prizemoney has only increased by 10-15 percent.
It’s time the authorities spoke to the rank-and-file owners who have been in the industry for a number of years, not just the top end.
The top end of the prizemoney pole is fine. It is the bottom end that needs to be restructured. Racing Victoria must now look at boosting country racing’s prizemoney, not in 12 months’ time but now.
Keep the acceptance fee and put it into a non-placed runners pool, or have a $50 nomination fee. Higher rated country races must now receive more prizemoney.
If owners don’t receive a return on their investment, they will not reinvest. Owners not paying is very serious, so how do we stop this?
Asking for a credit card is not the answer, as anyone can cancel a card.
Trainers run a business, not a charity. Trainers should have all owners sign a form stipulating that if they are 60 days in arrears, then the state authority can use any prizemoney earned to pay off all or part of the debt.
If accounts are 90 days overdue, trainers should have the right of legal action or a debt collector at the owners cost. This is not a solution, but it is better than what trainers have at the moment.
Owners in turn should have the right to expect their trainer to be true and be upfront with them about their horse.
Trainers must be more informative. Don’t take owners for fools or think they would not know one end of a horse from the other.
This may be true in some cases, but those owners are the ones trainers should be teaching, not just saying "going well" or "I’ll let you know."
There is no such thing as too much information, especially when it comes to owners. Some trainers do it better than others, just as some owners pay quickly, some pay slowly and some don’t pay.
Trainers must be many things in this day and age. Unless they are right at the top, they have to be trainer, businessperson, networker, staff manager and accountant.
Trainers should look at having vets send invoices to the owners direct, an arrangement I have with one of my trainers. This works well. You see what the horse is being treated for and if there is a discrepancy, you can call and discuss it with the vet.
If I was a trainer and an owner owed me money, that horse would not leave my stable until all accounts were paid in full.
I have been in the industry for 20 years. In that time I have owned more than 40 horses. At the moment I have five racehorses, three weanlings and two broodmares. I normally have around 10 racing but the costs have gone through the roof, so I am cutting back. Next season I will cut back more, due to the poor returns.
I can say that all my trainers and agistment farms are paid within the first week I receive their invoice. Like them, I run a business and know they need cashflow, a fact of which it seems not all are aware.
Ivanhoe (Vic)