Industry faces staff crisis
Administrator fields calls from trainers across the country
The New Zealand thoroughbred racing industry is facing an employment crisis according to a leading administrator. Trainers simply cannot find trackwork riders to work in their stables and the situation is getting worse, Wendy Cooper, executive officer for the New Zealand Trainers Association, said.
Cooper helps facilitate industry employment opportunities as part of her role and has been consistently fielding calls from trainers across the country desperate to find staff.
The association has 26 New Zealand stables on its books that are trying to find workers, four of which are in the Otago-Southland region.
“It is an ongoing problem, but it is getting worse,” she said.
So dire is the trackwork rider shortage, the draw of working with worldclass horses in the all conquering Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman stable is not enough to attract workers.
“Murray called me [last] week and he is desperate for staff.”
The reality most trackwork riders face is a minimal wage over long hours, something that is not lost on Cooper.
“They work such long hours, they have such early mornings. No one is denying it is a difficult job.”
Trainers simply not paying enough money to attract suitable workers is not the crux of the issue, Cooper said.
“The money is not the be all and end all.” Starting as a trackwork rider and then becoming an apprentice jockey is not enough to lure more to the trade, despite its attractive financial rewards, either.
“Doing an apprenticeship, whilst at the start it is hard yakka, if they are committed to it we are so short on decent jockeys that anyone halfway decent will do well.”
The South Island’s outgoing apprentice jockey mentor, Willy Harnett, agrees that those who take up apprenticeships can do well.
“The apprentice jockey side is quite attractive, really, they can earn good money when they complete their apprenticeship, even being a mid-range apprentice.”
The requirement to ride at light weights is a big factor stopping more people becoming apprentices, but another key factor is that the career choice is something that less school leavers are thinking about, Harnett said.
Though uptake numbers are not where the industry wants, those who are lured by the temptation of race riding riches do generally stick with the job, once they have started, he said.
However, the duration of that career is another tricky factor for potential jockeys to weigh up.
“There is no set time-frame for a jockey’s lifespan. There are a lot of things that dictate that, weight or
Murray [Baker] called me [last] week and he is desperate for staff. Wendy Cooper, NZ Trainers Association
injury or success or ability, too.”
Putting the idea that race riding is a viable career option in front of school leavers — especially those already involved with horses — is one of the priorities Cooper thinks can help turn the tide.
“There is quite a training and qualification process in place and I think it is a matter of trying to educate career councillors about the industry because it is in the too hard basket, they just do not know about it.
“We have got a captive audience of horse lovers — kids that go to pony club — we should be promoting to them more.” As much as race riding and trackwork riding overlap, the shortages of both apprentices and emerging track riders are two differ- ent issues. That is probably the biggest hole we have — is the track rider issue, more so than the jockey side,” Harnett said.
Many trainers have turned to overseas workers to help top up local trackwork riding ranks, as well as apprenticeship jockey numbers.
That has seen NZTR charge fees for overseas apprenticeship applications, some of which are refunded if they stay for two years after it is complete. The flipside though, is that the fees may stop riders coming into New Zealand that have intentions of staying.
Though race riding and trackwork riding are both listed on the Immediate Skills Shortage list by Immigration NZ, that does not mean the process of bringing in workers is easy, Cooper said. Dodgy agents promising quality riders, but delivering people who have no idea what they are doing, has been a huge frustration, she said.
“They have landed and they don’t know one end of the horse from the other.”