Point to Point Trainers

Putting aside whether Hannah jumped or was pushed ( and why most of her owners declined to let their horses go to the new yard), there remains a serious question regarding the now farcical situation over point to point trainers (keepers).

A quick scan through the entries so far this season confirms that over 50% of pointers are now being sent out from licensed yards.

Some are dual operations such as Ellis or Rowley.

Others are run under the name of a staff member.

And some are leased to staff as part of their remuneration.

For example I know of one trainer who spent most of the season running horses under the name of a staff member who was no longer employed and was actually living over 100 miles away.

Most  of us would agree that in order to have sufficient horses and jockeys the sport is now dependent upon licensed yards and whilst the romantic ideal of the genuine amateur is appealing, that horse has already bolted..... despite the well publicised gate!

The main losers here are the general public that like to have a bet especially when the racecard is providing misleading stats. You might be forgiven for dismissing a runner whose trainer has only had a handful of runners with no winners but if you knew that the yard had sent out 3 winners under rules in the past week you might look more closely.

Some might say that the sport has never really bothered about the paying public and they should just enjoy their picnic and stick to £2 ew on the one with pretty colours.

Currently anyone can be a ptp keeper and there isn't even any need to provide any proof of identity or existence. Bloke down the pub called Barry who has never touched a horse can put name on hunters cert with no checks in place.

Seems blindingly obvious that there needs to be at the very least a licensing and registration process which doesn't have to be costly or require a great deal of administration. Just a simple application form that includes declaration of relevant information such as any formal relationship with licensed trainers and details of keepers business.

Key elements of this information could then be put in the public domain and provide some welcome transparency.

Yes there will always be loopholes but I can't imagine that any genuine ptp trainer would object, in fact I suspect that they would welcome a levelling of the playing field.

In the past the objection to formalising ptp trainer status is that it might discourage the small keeper/owner trainer. Seems that there are now very few of these with many having been driven away by pro participants.

Not so long ago the rules were changed to make the keeper accountable to the stewards wereas previously it had been the owner. Surely this can only work if there is some form of licensing in place.

My own view is that a blind eye will continue to be turned, until something goes amiss then we will be hit with draconian measures requring  substantial licensing fees that no doubt get passed on immediately to owners....