WHAT can be done straight away to make Irish racing more competitive and encourage new owners into the sport?

For starters, how about races restricted to trainers who have had 15 winners or fewer in the previous 12 months?

We already have races for jockeys who have not ridden 10 winners in the past year, and there is the highly successful Martinstown Opportunity series of races. New trainers get no protection - they must compete with the best from day one.

Only 13 trainers in Ireland had 15 or more National Hunt winners last season and, at time of writing, only 14 flat trainers have racked up 15 or more winners this season.

Apparently the Irish Racehorse Trainers’ Association is not supportive of an initiative like this suggestion. Without their support it is unlikely to happen. Perhaps instead there could be a series of races restricted to horses whose owners have not had a winner?

The key point here is to create the perception that it is possible for the smaller owner or trainer to win races.

At the moment there is a view - especially in jump racing circles – that there is no point having a horse in training as you will run into ‘the big boys’ almost everywhere you go.

BAD DEBTS

Isn’t it time that a mechanism was put in place to help trainers avoid bad debts left by owners? Getting paid promptly is the single biggest problem faced by most trainers. In most cases where training fees are left unpaid the trainer has nowhere to turn. They cannot abandon the horse or sell the horse. Often they will continue training it in the hope the horse wins prize money which they can lay claim to in lieu of fees.

It would be anti-competitive to introduce a minimum training fee but Horse Racing Ireland and the Irish Rachorse Trainers Association should look at a centralised system for payment. HRI already deducts riding fees and entry fees from owners’ accounts. Why not training fees too?

At every fixture there are horses running whose owners are behind on their training fees bill. Why should that continue? You don’t buy a car, drive it for two months, decide it’s not what you wanted and abandon it.

Bad-paying owners should be stopped from removing their horse from one yard and putting it with another trainer, sometimes to race almost straight away.

If an owner wants to have a horse in training let the bill go out via HRI and the training fees come out of their account. As it stands, an owner can win a €10,000 race, owe a trainer €3,000 and still decide not to pay it.

If an owner does not have money in their HRI account they cannot make an entry. Neither should they be allowed to make an entry if there are training fees outstanding. But this needs HRI intervention.

HRI has made moves to try and increase the competitiveness of racing and reduce costs, but now the time has come to make a more aggressive step to help struggling trainers.