FURY AT WORKLOAD
BRITAIN’S champion all-weather trainer claims racing chiefs are “grinding stable staff into the ground” by ramping up their workload.
Mick Appleby, who celebrated six titles in a row last April, is against racing on Sunday evenings and Saturday mornings.
The new initiatives are inspired by a British Horseracing Authority drive on betting revenue and interest in the sport.
Lingfield gets underway at 10.10am on Saturday, the first time a race will be broadcast on ITV’S The Opening Show.
Appleby, who has two entries, said his staff will have to leave at 4.30am to make the 147-mile journey from his Rutland stable.
“People are leaving racing and you can see why,” said the Grade One-winning handler of Breeders Cup hero Big Evs.
“They (the sport’s leaders) are grinding stable staff into the ground. It’s hard work, often in bad weather – and now they want more.
“Owners want to race for the prize money on Saturday morning. If it was down to me I wouldn’t go.
“I’ve always been against Sunday racing and try not to have runners. It’s an important day off and the hours of the job are already unsociable.”
Appleby’s view is backed by Claire Kubler, in the UK’S first married training partnership with her husband Daniel.
Sunday is a key rest day for employees, in a career which regularly has early starts and late finishes. “It’s an exhaustive cycle of racing,” she said, with Al Rufaa set to carry the colours of their bet365 Cambridgeshire winner Astro King in Lingfield’s opener.
“A lot of yards are feeling the pressure. Staff are entitled to a work-life balance.”
The card, which has received 107 entries, forms part of the track’s £1million Winter Million Festival.