Exclusive: Trainers’ revolt puts Wetherby under threat

Chief executive Jonjo Sanderson last night accused the handlers – led by Ferdy Murphy, Sue Smith and Keith Reveley – of exacerbating the funding malaise that is threatening horse racing’s viability.

“Three or four-runner races next Tuesday will not generate increased Levy funding through betting turnover – or people through the gates,” Sanderson told the Yorkshire Post. “This is adding to the sport’s downward spiral.”

This is the biggest planned boycott of a single race meeting since the influential Horsemen’s Group, a trade body, recently recommended new prize money levels following a fall in sponsorship because of the recession and the protracted dispute with the betting industry over their contribution to the sport.

It deemed Tuesday’s meeting to be worth £30,800 – but the seven-race card is only offering £21,100. As a consequence, it has attracted 102 initial declarations – trainers finalise their intentions on Monday – compared to 170 horses for last year’s fixture. Two steeplechases were reopened because they did not attract 10 declarations, the minimum threshold, but trainers shunned the opportunity.

In comparison, Taunton’s seven-race programme next Tuesday drew 194 entries after the track, one of the smallest courses, increased prize money to £44,000.

However, the protesting trainers – all of whom have won many big races at Wetherby – believe that the only way forward is to not race their horses, some of whom are Cheltenham and Aintree prospects, for negligible sums. As well as Murphy, Smith and Reveley, Malton trainers Malcolm Jefferson and John Quinn are also without runners.

“The prize money is abysmal,” said Saltburn-based Reveley. “Even a small increase would be sufficient, but Wetherby have refused to do so. I’ve had a decent season and won 14 races, but that equates to just £50,000. I charge training fees – but they only cover my costs. A percentage of any prize money is my living and it’s not just coming in.”

Reveley was endorsed by Bingley trainer Sue Smith whose husband Harvey, the showjumping legend, warned Sanderson earlier this month that the overall prize fund at each meeting should be around £50,000 to offer owners – and paying spectators – value for money.

“It is not on, is it?” said Sue Smith, whose horses include Wetherby course specialist Mister McGoldrick. “The North has suffered enough through bad weather without this. You have to look after the grass-roots. If you don’t have owners, you don’t have trainers.

“And, without trainers, you have no jobs for people involved in racing.

“The prize money is as low as it has ever been, but all your feed, bedding and transport costs are going up. Harvey and I love Wetherby, we’ve been leading trainer there, but you’ve got to give owners a boost.”

Murphy’s objection is that the Wetherby executive have not properly reinvested money accrued from the compulsory purchase of land for the widening of the adjacent A1 – and the increased revenue being accrued from media rights through a levy that bookmakers pay in order to screen races in their shops.

Such criticisms, says Sanderson, are unfair. He says the £2.5m acquired from the A1 widening was spent on reconfiguring the course – a move which led to several fatalaties at the track and trainers shunning the course.

Sanderson pointed out the £4,500 received for each race through media rights was used to pay six full-time and five part-time staff, as well as raceday costs like ambulances, vets and ground staff.

“This season, we have budgeted to put in £245,000 – which is a third of all prize money. The rest comes from the Levy and sponsors. We have increased prize money at our big October Charlie Hall meeting and our most recent card, but we have lost our lucrative two-day Christmas meeting in successive years.”

He added prize money will increase marginally for the season’s remaining five fixtures, but he accepts that this will not meet the guidelines set by the Horsemen’s Group. “The trainers concerned raced horses at our last meeting for some of the sums on offer next week so what has changed?”

Murphy, however, accused the course of being “unreasonable” and warned that other local trainers intended to withdraw horses that they had provisionally entered, including Tim Easterby and Howard Johnson, who has seven prospective runners.

He added: “How can we run seven races for £21,000 on a Grade One track? They get £4,500 a race through media rights, so where is all the money going? If this does not change, we will target – believe me – other meetings.

“We’re not jeopardising the sport. Wetherby is. Other tracks like Musselburgh, Kelso and Taunton are putting more money in. Why not Wetherby?”

An inquiry has confirmed that accidental electrocution was to blame for the deaths of Fenix Two and Marching Song at Newbury. Last Saturday’s meeting, later abandoned, is restaged today.