Racing: Frustrated trainers look for leadership

Trainer Peter Williams.

Northern thoroughbred trainers say racing is without leadership and they want it fixed.

Well respected trainers Peter Williams, Shaun Clotworthy and Allan Peard are railing strongly against what they say are recent glaring examples of stuff-ups by the Racing Integrity Unit and the industry's major administrators.

All three - and they have widespread support - are unhappy with the aftermath and two official reports on the abandonment of the middle Windsor Park Plate day of the Hastings spring treble.

"Those reports say nothing, particularly the one by Turftech. If you pay someone to do a report, of course they're going to say what you want to hear," Williams said.

"Reports are useless - the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The course manager came on television on race morning and said the track was in perfect condition. Well, the reports can say what they like, the fact is the track wasn't perfect - they called the raceday off.

"How can it have been perfect, what they did in track condition wasn't right and you can't argue against that. That's not good enough."

The popular opinion is the problems with horses slipping under riders Opie Bosson and Jonathan Riddell in Races 1 and 3 were caused by watering the Hastings track too close to raceday.

Although difficult to assess, the overall loss to the industry is calculated at around $2 million.

There has been criticism of the lack of aggression from the executive of the NZ Trainers' Association. President Tony Pike says it's an awkward situation. "What can you do? Sack the course manager? Can you guarantee the next one will be better?" Yes, sacking is what Williams, Clotworthy and Peard advocate. "If you make someone accountable, the next person into the job is going to make damn sure they're not going to stuff up," says Clotworthy.

Horse trainers, says Williams, have to be accountable. "If I stuff something up I get the sack - I lose the horse. This is a billion-dollar industry, we all have to be accountable.

"Something is not working. We are losing too many meetings. A trainer puts nine months' work and planning into a group one horse and the raceday is called off because of something that shouldn't have happened."

All trainers are critical of the incidents around the race at Timaru last Friday being called legitimate after a false start was called. It was a difficult situation - eight horses started properly and seven were left in the barriers.

Not one of the eight responded to a false start and raced right to the winning post.

The RIU were then left with a difficult decision whether to declare the eight that started as a proper race and declare those left in the barriers as late scratchings, or rule the original eight as null and void and race the other seven.

They chose the former.

"It was a wrong decision," said Williams. "A false start is a false start. The rules are clear on that."

Trainers are of the opinion protocol was not followed when the Hastings meeting was called off.

Pike: "Unfortunately when a race meeting starts the Racing Integrity Unit is in charge of everything from that point. Garry Foskett is the national controller of racetracks and if anything goes wrong he's in the firing line.

"Garry wanted to groundhog the track after Opie Bosson reported a slip in Race 1, but the RIU said they had never used the groundhog on raceday and ruled against it.

"After Race 3 jockeys said they would continue riding if the track had the groundhog put over it and that was also ruled against. The meeting could have gone ahead."

Williams said too much of that type of thing was happening.

"We are all waiting for the next stuff-up - and it will happen."

The Racing Integrity Unit did not respond to the Herald's calls yesterday.