Sir,

It was very interesting to read about the joining up of the training operations of John Oxx and Patrick Prendergast, two very renowned names in Irish racing.

My initial reaction was that this type of merger would appear to make absolute good business sense. Naturally, the success or otherwise will depend to a large degree on how the principals work together in the years ahead and the quality of the horses they get to train.

We all know that many trainers have suffered with numbers in recent years. The owning of racehorses became of secondary importance to many people in Ireland struggling to repay bank debt. As a result many trainers had stables and overheads that were too large with not enough horses to train, nor owners to pay the bills. Many have closed down or reduced their operations. That is a shame but understandable.

In the business world mergers and takeovers are happening all the time. The one certainty in the world of commerce is that nothing remains the same. If two business owners are running similar businesses in the same locality it is common practice for the two owners to talk and see if it would make sense for them to join up and combine their operations.

The advantages could be to share premises and reduce considerably the costs of running two business. Save money on rent, insurance and pool expertise on the running of a business and on advertising and marketing. Does the same apply, I wonder, to a horse training business?

I understand that in Ireland a training partnership can be registered but only one name can appear on the licence. This naturally could be a negative to one who might prefer their name to continue especially if they have been in business for a long while.

Many trainers pass their businesses on to their sons or daughters when they retire, if they have a daughter or son interested and competent to take over the reins. For others, however, the possibility of joining up with another trainer might well be the right option at this time.

It will be interesting to see if any further new tie-ups happen as the year unfolds.

Yours etc.,

TED DWYER,

Blackrock,

Co Cork