FROM THE SHERIFF'S DESK: ON NOTICE - THE WORRYING DECLINE IN FIELD SIZES NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED

By John Schreck | Wednesday, September 20, 2017

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. Schreck’s personal blog, ‘From the Sheriff’s Desk', appears exclusively on HRO.

Whenever anybody criticised South East Queensland racing in the past I, along with many others, always countered with the argument that field sizes are good, races are run at a good speed ... usually truly ... and that they provided a competitive spectacle which punters could enjoy.

The opportunity to run with that argument seems to be diminishing!

Field sizes in South East Queensland in recent times would be causing the authorities a lot of concern, I would have thought.

With small field sizes, of course, comes the opposite of what I described above.

With good races they jump and run. By contrast, when you have got four or five runners it often becomes a kind of walk, trot, gallop sort of race ... a muddling affair. Out the gate goes truly run races ... and there is a further roll on effect from there as one thing leads to another.

Perhaps the most negative roll on effect is that small fields and false run races are not attractive to punters and that has unwanted repercussions.

So it is to be hoped that the reasons for this decline in numbers can be identified.

If the horse population numbers are down the authorities would be aware of that. They should do something to address that concern both in general terms, looking at the wider picture, and in race programming in particular.

Whatever authorities are aware or are not aware of, you have got to hope that there is some sort of investigation going on about what is causing this decline.

In my opinion it is important that this issue is not just pushed aside with the tired explanation that it is because of ‘the time of the year’ or ‘the current track conditions’ and the belief that these factors will stabilise and come right by themselves.

That would be dangerous to assumption ... one which potentially could have very serious consequences.

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Two protocol issues have emerged in recent weeks that provide food for thought.

Racing NSW has issued a warning to trainers in relation to some feed products which could lead to cobalt positives.

Racing NSW have named some feed products that they have established contain levels of cobalt well above levels specified on the label and further stated that some manufacturers are not listing all active constituents or all concentration levels of the constituents on the product label.

They reminded trainers that it is the trainer’s obligation to know exactly what they are feeding their horses.

This is just another example of how trainers, during their careers, often play ‘Russian Roulette’.

The buck clearly stops with them but they are in a very, very difficult position, particularly in circumstances like this where their endeavour to perform the expected duty of care with feeding is complicated by something like omissions on product labels.

Yet it is still difficult to find an out for them if they do come up with a cobalt positive because it is their responsibility to ensure their runners do not exceed the cobalt threshold.

It is not a good position to be in. Obviously you should not use any products where there might be any doubt about the cobalt levels but that is probably oversimplifying the solution, if you will pardon the pun.

Cobalt has been, and remains, a trouble spot in the sport and racing will be all the better off when it goes away.

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The second protocol issue had been activated by the Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources who have issued a ban, from October 2, on horses travelling directly from Hong Kong to Australia.

The ban will stay in place pending their requested review of biosecurity control measures in the equine disease free zone between Hong Kong and Conghua on the Chinese mainland.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club is currently involved in the development of the Conghua Training Centre on the Chinese mainland.

To put in perspective the difficulty that creates for connections of horses wanting to travel from Hong Kong to Australia, the nearest indirect return port of call is New Zealand where horse would have to remain for 180 days before being allowed back into Australia.

So there is not only a time delay factor but a significant cost factor as well.

The move is likely to also have a serious impact on Australian horses looking to contest the international races in Hong Kong.

They will be allowed in as usual but the ‘round trip’ schedule would now have to change dramatically, to the degree where the viability of the trip could be brought into question.

I can understand why the Hong Kong racing authorities are not impressed with that directive.

Having worked in Hong Kong and having seen the work that goes on there to care for the horses and the effort that they put into quarantining horses that come there to race ... really, I would have thought their protocols were outstanding.

I can also, in some ways, understand the Australian authorities’ stance in taking a protective position and their attempt to keep the place free of any sort of disease.

I would be surprised though if the Hong Kong Jockey Club is unable to employ some lobbyists to try and put their point of view forcefully and stress their credentials to the department concerned.

Lobbyists are often severely criticised but they do provide a way of getting a message across and they have worked very effectively around the world on all sorts of issues.

In this a matter the Australian government department does need some advice and a persistent argument to be made to them so that a more agreeable, joint understanding of the situation can be reached ... which, judging by the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s spokesman’s response, is obviously is not the case right now.

I’m sure the matter can be sorted out.

The problem, on top of the problem, is that it could take a while!

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Recently I was having a conversation with a prominent Queensland trainer. He was telling me of the difficulties regarding his business ... things like feed costs, staff problems, track fees etc ... and the need to ‘train’ owners.

He mentioned a discussion he had with one of his clients ... really good owner but a chap who knew all about training horses and how they should be ridden.

A few weeks ago they had a runner which was expected to do really well. The owner was interstate and, as often happens, the good thing ran a nice seventh.

Before they could get the saddle off the owner was on the phone quite upset and wanting to know what happened.

The trainer was explaining as best he could and finished up saying,” he is green.”

The owner snapped back, “what have you done to my bloody horse? Last time I saw him he was brown.”

To be a successful racehorse trainer you do really need good people skills.