RSN927
TRACK RIDERS AS RARE AS HEN’S TEETH AS CRISIS DEEPENS
April 6, 2021 9:40 am
By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor
Racing’s nationwide staff crisis will be laid bare when over 100 participants, from trainers to administrators, meet later this month.
The
Australian Trainers Association estimates that Australia is at least 200 track riders “short” as the effect of visa restrictions, and then
COVID, decimate rider ranks, leading to unprecedented poaching between stables as trainers struggle to find capable staff.
The recent drug sweep at
Ballarat, where six of the 40 track riders were benched by stewards, highlighted not just the issue of drugs in racing and society but also the volatility of staff numbers.