Trainers in focus
Moving
TARGET
The sport’s shutdown has presented a number of problems for Britain’s racehorse trainers as they try to maintain their businesses while preparing horses for an unspecified return to action Words: Edward Rosenthal • Photos: George Selwyn
“L
ife goes on but not quite in the same way,” says Chris Wall, who trains 40 racehorses from his Induna Stables on Newmarket’s Fordham Road. Like his colleagues in the town and around Britain who were building up to the start of the Flat turf season, Wall found the rug pulled from under his feet when racing was halted in March due to the coronavirus outbreak. Race meetings may be off the agenda, for the time being at least, yet the thoroughbreds in the trainer’s care require feeding and exercise as they would in any other season, with staff members having to adhere to new health and safety protocols. “The government recognised that we have to look after the horses so my staff are still coming to work,” Wall says. “I have 12 full-time employees and three
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part-time. I haven’t had to furlough anyone because we haven’t lost any horses. “We have 40 horses in training and I think the owners are hoping that a resumption isn’t too far away. But the longer it goes on without racing, the more chance some will say it’s wasting money and could ask to give the horses a break. “If we do lose horses then that will lead to people being furloughed or even laid off if it’s a longer term thing.” The government has introduced a number of initiatives to help the many UK businesses that have been affected by the lockdown. Trainers, denied the opportunity to earn prize-money on the track, have been accessing different forms of assistance. “We were able to defer payment of our business rates, which is a big
help as the cost has gone up considerably in the past few years. That helps a lot with the cash flow in a small business,” Wall says. “While we have horses here and they are being paid for then the basis of the business is fine. We have all our costs to pay, though some things are less, such as transport and blacksmith fees, as the horses don’t need racing plates.” He continues: “Like a lot of trainers we’re making sure that owners aren’t overburdened with costs. We were planning to put rates
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THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER
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