FROM THE SHERIFF'S DESK: PUTTING THE MULTIFACETED ROLE OF A CHIEF STEWARD UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

By John Schreck | Wednesday, May 18, 2016

John Schreck, a former Chief Steward in both Sydney and Hong Kong, has seen both the colourful and the dark sides of racing. His wealth of experience and his deep knowledge of racing matters across the board is unquestioned and the reputation he built as a racing ‘lawman’ remains firmly entrenched in racing’s history. Shreck’s personal blog, ‘From the Sheriff’s Desk', appears exclusively on HRO.

In my experience, while stewards throughout the land are policing the same set of rules, the Chief Steward in any precinct is able to bring his own style to the job and establish his own culture within that working structure.

Absolutely!

I had a very strong philosophy, which was drilled into me before I started, that prevention is better than cure.

If you can encourage the licenced persons to cooperate and do the right thing most of the time ... well, that is much better for the sport than having to constantly address transgressions of the rules.

After all, it is the sport that is the most important thing.

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In fact, one of the essential attributes of a Chief Steward has to be a genuine feeling for the sport and its people ... that is to know what you are working for and what you are working towards ... and to not be too much of a ‘copper.’

Of course you have to be that on occasions because people will always try to get a bit of a start and from time to time they step over the line.

Gambling is all about getting an edge on somebody else and if you want to gamble you want to get an advantage if you can. That’s what gambling is all about.

The steward’s job is to keep those seeking an edge within the rules in order to keep the playing field as level as possible.

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Individuals Chief Stewards will have their own way of going about things and that difference can be for the better or worse.

I have to say that over the years I have seen some racing stewards fail dismally to treat the people before them with courtesy and dignity ... but then, on the other hand, those same stewards talked about wanting to be treated with ‘respect’ by licensed persons.

I never ever used that word, but I always tried to treat the licensed people with courtesy and dignity and expected something the same from them.

People talk about respect, but that really is a bullshit word. We are not talking about respect. What we are really talking about is a state of mind which allows people to work together on a courteous level. That’s all.

I’m sure in my time there were a lot of people in the sport who did not respect me but, generally speaking, everybody conducted any interaction with me with courtesy and dignity.

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One of the very difficult jobs that a racing steward has, in my view, is to understand the idiosyncrasies of jockeys.

You know sometimes a steward will sit across the table from a person who hasn’t had anything to eat for probably three days.

The jockey might have had a few glasses of water and maybe a carrot and a lettuce or something during that time and now the steward is calling him to account for whatever reason ... so he is absolutely entitled to be cranky.

So a good steward has to really understand what jockeys go through and appreciate that situation.

On the other hand the steward has to have a strong resolve in dealing with matters before him.

Decisions have to be made along the way which not only impacts the lives of those found guilty of serious offences, but which also affects the lives of their families.

I’ve had instances over the years where I’ve had wives and families at the door crying about what has happened to them because of decisions I and others have made.

In some cases steward’s decisions ruin people’s lives for a period of time. In other they ruin it full stop!

In that sense, being a racing steward is an awful way of making a living, even if the guilty party had brought it on themselves.

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A Chief Steward has to co-exist and try to sustain a workable arrangement with both sides of the racing spectrum.

That is, they ideally need the cooperation of the participants and the support of the racing authority ... so they work within an environment which has many moving parts.

On top of that, the Chief Steward has to lead a team which can bring its own set of challenges.

A group of racing stewards is the same as any group of people.

You will be dealing with a range of diverse personalities. Some are easy to work with and some are difficult. Some are looking for headlines. Some aren’t.

It isn’t easy to manage a group of racing stewards so strong leadership of the group is very important ... and all of this is before you get to dealing with actual transgressions of the rules.

So these are the sort of incidental challenges that a Chief Steward in particular will face.

It is a very testing position.

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Where a change in the position of Chief Steward comes along it invariably brings more than a name change.

I remember Ross Oakley, who was the head of the AFL, saying that anybody in a high profile job has got about ten good years in him. I’m convinced that is probably right.

You see that with Police Commissioners, top sports administrators etc.

I think it does apply.

Further I’m convinced that if you stay in a job too long you can start to see that what you are doing is right yet when somebody else comes in they do things differently and, lots of times, better.

There is a danger if someone stays in a high profile job too long they might just settle into a comfort zone or a routine when the job actually demands more of them.

You have got to create an environment where people have a go and try things differently because time moves on ... and so do people ... and things change.

All in all, the position of Chief Steward is a very tough job ... the demands of which are seldom appreciated by those outside the steward’s room.

But, then again, hasn’t that always been the nature of the game?