Originally Posted by
Brumby
Making assumptions as to Belinda's credentials as a trainer is a joke. Belinda has held a trainers licence for a number of years and went through the same procedure as anyone else does to obtain one. I think I am safe to assume she did not find one in the packet of cornflakes. As far as her ability as a horseperson, maybe some homework should have been done before comments were passed. Belinda's background in this industry speaks for itself.
I am also assuming I am speaking for a number of wives, partners, girlfriends, stablehands etc etc, maintaining a racing stable is not on the shoulders of just the main man. Speaking from my own perspective, even though my name does not appear next to a horse on a stable return form, nor in a racebook or formguide, does not mean my capabilities are any less than the person, whose name that does appear. I am sure this is the same in Belinda's case. As the saying goes, behind every man is a good woman.
Owners who have horses with Luke, would obviously be fully aware of how the stable operates on a day to day basis and Belinda's involvement with the training of their horses. To openly say that (quote) - if owners retain Belinda as a trainer, then they believe in something else (unquote) - is completely slanderous. It is completely the owner's discretion as to who they place their horse with, and if they retain the services of Belinda McCarthy, they should not be branded with sinister inuendoes.