October
JulyStewart spot on
At last a journo has had the guts to challenge the dominance of the Big Ws.
Bravo Matt Stewart (Winning Post July 7)!
It is absolutely unfair that Weir and Waller win races through the sheer weight of numbers; absolutely outrageous how the big guys can plunder smaller country meetings.
Matt suggests a solution: restricting a trainer’s number of horses in work from the 250 (approximately) the Big Ws have in work at any time, to 180. But is it practical or reasonable to ask these super-trainers to move out 70 horses within a certain time frame? Is this workable, given the seasonal influences?
To my mind, since it’s the racing administrators who have allowed the juggernauts to roll on unchecked, it is their problem to solve.
And they can solve it quite simply, I think.
They must begin to program races, at least one per day, for stables that have either 40 registered horses or fewer, or have won less than 40 races in a calendar year. If this happens, over time, the playing fields will be levelled before more trainers (and owners) get steamrollered.
Black Range (Vic)