The plight of one young trainer

[Danno]

Thanks Wayne however the bird has flown. Leroy is walking away from the sport for the time being. In his words "its just too hard". Maybe why I am a little emotional about the industry and the way it is heading. I gave my license up for the same reason, however will need to look at getting it back to sort the paddock full of horses out before retiring altogether. Leroy has had a good introduction into the sport working with leading stables. Due to not being a big name in the industry he was not given the driving opportunities he thoroughly deserved in my biased opinion. This led to him not believing in himself as a driver and employing others to complete this chore on many occassions. As for training he trained 13 individual winners last year including the Ararat trotters cup, the home bred Vicbred final for 2 year old fillies and the ladyship in Adelaide. The stable earned over $100000 last year in stakemoney,with bonuse's included. He was over the moon to train his first metropolitan winner, which he also drove, only to have his winners interview cut short by the commentator announcing a protest. One of the stables who like winning everything, (including trials if the recent report regarding Josh Aitken is correct) protested. Thats his right to protest and the stewards right to give Aitken a warning for wasting their time. Little things like this get to me. The stable was not getting a fair go as far as i was concerned so I wrote to the minister of sport, the chairman of stewards and the CEO. In hindsight a silly idea. As far as exposure, we work horse for a little more then what it costs us. All the horses given to the stable to train have had their issues or are poorly bred. We introduce many owners to this sport. The owners are then poached by leading stables and the owners drift away. We purchased a horse at the Shepparton sale intending to sell shares. We avertised the horses shares on facebook only to receive a phone call from a HRV representative telling Leroy to take down the post as he does not have a license to syndicate horses. We were not syndicating as such, just looking for partners. As I said; "its just too hard". - anyone want to buy a horse.

Unfortunately an all too familiar story, administrators the nation over are, whether willfully or unwittingly running the game for the few rather than for the many and it MUST cease before there are only a handful of stables in each area catering to an ever decreasing pool of owners.

This sport ( and I personally prefer that term over Industry, as it is an industry to fewer participants than it is a sport) should NOT be trying to be a "me too" to the thoroughbreds, it is an entirely different game and was founded by entirely different people trying to do things in an entirely different way catering to an entirely different audience.

When will the revolving door of administrators to our game get this?? when we the participants have a greater say in those appointments,I believe. There have been scant few who know what goes on at the grassroots level, and those that have more often than not have carried out their duties with sufficient diligence to adequately represent the majority of participants who call this game a "sport"

The game needs every single active participant to continue, but we are chasing good people away in the droves, whilst pandering to the few, as we have done for decades in the breeding side of the game, and where has that got everyone? The game has shrunk and the costs of breeding mean only a few will survive, giving rise to another important aspect of the game being available to the few rather than the many.

Rant over,

Merry Christmas to everyone, hope you and your families have a bonza day tomorrow!!!

[strong persuader]

Unfortunately an all too familiar story, administrators the nation over are, whether willfully or unwittingly running the game for the few rather than for the many and it MUST cease before there are only a handful of stables in each area catering to an ever decreasing pool of owners.

This sport ( and I personally prefer that term over Industry, as it is an industry to fewer participants than it is a sport) should NOT be trying to be a "me too" to the thoroughbreds, it is an entirely different game and was founded by entirely different people trying to do things in an entirely different way catering to an entirely different audience.

When will the revolving door of administrators to our game get this?? when we the participants have a greater say in those appointments,I believe. There have been scant few who know what goes on at the grassroots level, and those that have more often than not have carried out their duties with sufficient diligence to adequately represent the majority of participants who call this game a "sport"

The game needs every single active participant to continue, but we are chasing good people away in the droves, whilst pandering to the few, as we have done for decades in the breeding side of the game, and where has that got everyone? The game has shrunk and the costs of breeding mean only a few will survive, giving rise to another important aspect of the game being available to the few rather than the many.

Rant over,

Merry Christmas to everyone, hope you and your families have a bonza day tomorrow!!!

Been busy and a little slack lately, not having visited for a while. But Danno, if you ever run for a position on any industry board, I'd love to assist your campaign in any way I can.
You are speaking words I hear in some form at nearly every trot meeting I go to where the 'little' folk still appear. Unfortunately, they seem to fall on deaf ears at higher levels