Shorter hours win backing of trainers’ boss

It is not an easy fix and we realise that. The top five or so trainers might be able to put up fees. Others will struggle with that and fear losing horses.

Calls for shorter working hours for stable staff have received the backing of a powerful ally in the head of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Trainers’ Association, Tony Pike.

Pike says while providing better pay and shorter hours to those who look after New Zealand’s thousands of racehorses won’t be achievable for all, he agrees staffing is reaching a point of crisis.

Westbury Stud boss Russell Warwick raised the issue this week when declaring his operation will only roster staff to work 8.5 hours a day, more in line with a normal job rather than the 10-12 hours stables can work, starting as early as 3am.

Warwick’s comments and Westbury’s stance have met with overwhelming appreciation from horse handlers, who work longer hours than most industries and often for less pay.

Warwick admitted paying better wages and/or committing to less hours for staff would initially cost Westbury money, but he believed that would be paid back in increased retention of staff who are also better qualified because of the experience that would create.

Pike says Warwick is right. “We have to move on this now to make careers in racing more sustainable,” he said yesterday.

“The hours can be very long as well as unsocial and that makes it very hard to attract new people into the industry or even retain the ones we do have. That brings a whole array of problems. If you keep losing staff after six months then you have to train new people and they aren’t that easy to come by.

“The early starts are unattractive to a lot of people. Some people love it and that is great but you can’t expect people to start before it is light and work all day,” said Pike.

“I think our working conditions and the way most staff are treated are excellent but that isn’t the problem. There are some wonderful benefits to working in the industry, especially for people who love the horses.

“But the world is changing and not many young people want to sign up for a job where you might work 10 hours a day, six days a week.

“I sent a team to Ruakaka and the staff had to leave when it was dark to beat the Auckland traffic on the way there. Had we had horses in later races it could have been an 18-hour day.

“That doesn’t appeal to a lot of people.”

Pike said many of his counterparts realised the problem, which has been brought to a head by Covid restrictions on foreign workers.

The answer was money, which ultimately came back to owners.

“We can either pay people more or reduce their hours which means we need more staff and that all costs money,” he said.

“My training business loses money but you hope to make money on stakes and percentages on sales.

“I wanted to pay my staff more so earlier this season I sent all my owners an email saying I was putting my fees up $4 a day so I could pay my staff more. Not one owner complained to me,” he said.

“I think more of us [trainers] need to consider that because we want to retain staff and I think owners will understand that. But of course that would be easier if stakes went up, which hopefully they will.”

The Trainers’ Association is effectively a collection of sole business owners so neither it nor NZTR have the power to impose working hour restrictions yet.

There are also staff who may be happy with racing’s unusual hours or, as long as they are getting paid per hour, would be happy to work more.

“It is not an easy fix and we realise that. The top five or so trainers here in the Waikato might be able to put up fees and make it work but there are other trainers, particularly some of those further down the country, who will struggle with that and fear losing horses if they put their fees up,” said Pike.

“But I think we all know we need to do something because, as Russell said, the lack of staff is getting to crisis point.”

NZ Thoroughbred Trainers’ Association head Tony Pike