Lismore Trainers

Trainers Meeting Notes

WEDNESDAY 8TH APRIL 2009

Meeting commenced 6.10pm

  • The Secretary introduced Mr Bob Pavitt, the Chairman of the Clarence River Jockey Club who is also the Chairman of the Northern Rivers Racing Association and the Vice-Chairman of Racing NSW Country.

Bob spoke about the new Board of Racing NSW and what issues they were currently looking at. He noted that the new board had ordered a review of the Ratings / Handicapping system. This had lead the Board to hiring Dominic Beirne as a consultant to work with them on improving the system. Although the final changes have not yet been announced, Bob assured the meeting that Alan Brown (Chairman of Racing NSW) had said that Class 1 & 2 races would remain and that the Ratings Race programming would change to a banding system using Rating 55, 60, 65 70 whereby a horse rated 60 would receive 58 kg in a rating 60 race but would also be eligible to nominate in a Rating 55 but would receive a weight of 60.5kg. This means that any horse is able to nominate in any Rating races as long as they are prepared to caryy the extra weight.

He also spoke about the information that all clubs had recently had to supply to Racing NSW in questionnaires. He suggested that a possible outcome is not a reduction in the overall number of race meetings but a re-allocation of where race meetings are run. In particular TAB meetings being moved away from smaller clubs with normal small TAB turnover to a better performing club.

He also spoke about the possible amalgamation of AJC / STC and Gosford / Wyong and what impact that might have on country racing. He suggested that with the number of clubs in our area within close proximity this is something that may be looked at in the future by Racing NSW.

He also warned that unless the Corporate Bookmakers court cases were won soon, the industry may be facing reduced revenues which may result in less money available to clubs which in turn could cause a reduction in prizemoney.

  • The Secretary referred to the minutes of the previous trainers meeting of 28th January 2009. It was reported that the club had purchased the first syndicate horse called Tangler and was being trained by Owen Glue. The club is now sourcing a second horse which will be trained by Jim Richardson, and if the demand warrants further horses will be spread across other trainers.

The Secretary reported that the CRDF had agreed to fund 50% or approx $25,000 of the new day stalls project. This was much less than the club was hoping for and will mean that due to the cost that the club will incur other projects will be pushed further back.

With regard to the list of improvements suggested at the last meeting, the recent rain has highlighted an important issue. The state of the sand track, in particular the home straight, is becoming a problem. The meeting agreed that it needed to be the first priority to be fixed and the Secretary agreed to take this up with the club board.

The new Lismore Trainers section of the club’s website was spoken about. The Secretary informed the meeting that all Lismore Trainers were listed on the site to help promote them, and he also suggested that he would like to place a profile of each trainer for further promotion.

  • The new Track Work Notice Boards were spoken about. The Secretary asked that all trainers write the names of horses in the proper column that were being nominated for races and wanted to work on the course proper. All agreed the system was working well and should continue.
  • The Secretary spoke about Amy the new trackwork rider. He suggested that unless more trainers were prepared to use her on their horses she will not continue to improve and could become bored and leave. He suggested that any trainer worried whether she could handle a particular horse should talk to Jim Herriot first.
  • Trainers were asked to be more vigilant in reporting accidents / injuries. Any accident or injury must be reported to the Secretary so it could be placed in the incident book and be filled out on the new ARID forms. Any injury that was going to require treatment or time off work must be reported on the proper Racing NSW Insurance forms within a couple of days otherwise any insurance claim could be invalid. All forms are available from the Secretary’s Office.
  • Jim Richardson asked if more sand could put into the sand roll because it was getting low and asked for the sand track to be harrowed after trackwork on Saturday. The Secretary agreed to discuss a solution to this problem with the Racecourse Curator.

Meeting closed 7.30pm

Michael Timbrell
Secretary/Manager

 

WEDNESDAY 28TH JANUARY 2009

Meeting commenced 6.05pm

  • The Secretary distributed a set of draft operation guidelines for comment. Only comment was that the initial figure of $40 per day was too low. The following trainers submitted their names for consideration to train a horse under those conditions:- Robina Todd, Jim Richardson, Owen Glue, Jim Herriot, Sharon Pepper.
  • The Secretary informed the meeting about the progress of the construction of extra day stalls. The meeting was informed that the CRDF had recently denied all requests for funding from clubs to bring the number of stalls up to the 100 minimum standard. However the Lismore Turf Club had recently submitted a revised application for funding to construct 20 day stalls which would be located in the existing car park area facing east. This would also allow for a large grassed area for walking horses to be sectioned off.
  • The following suggestions were written on the whiteboard for consideration in the clubs 10 year Strategic Plan:-
    • increase number of race meetings                               1
    • sand track renovation                                                  4c
    • training track irrigation                                               4b
    • replace running rail on training tracks             3
    • re-cambering of course proper home turn
    • install swimming facility
    • better availability of tracks esp. course proper
    • b grass track renovation
    • install synthetic training track
    • install walking machine
    • public toilets upgrade
    • second level on admin building to include a trainers / owners bar
    • regular communication with trainers / owners            2

The numbers next to the item indicate the importance of the issue to the trainers present with more race meetings the most important followed by regular communication. The items marked 3, 4a, 4b & 4c were all considered of very similar importance and are issues that would have to be looked at in conjunction with each other. For example there was no point doing a renovation of the B Grass track without having irrigation installed.

It was also suggested that the notes from these meetings, and any other relevant information that needed to be communicated to trainers be posted on the club’s website, and that meetings such as this be held regularly every 3 months.

In a wide discussion it was asked who represents our club and trainers with the higher authorities. The meeting was informed that Mr Bob Pavitt, Chairman of the Clarence River Jockey Club, was also the Chairman of the NRRA and was our most relevant representative. It was asked whether he could be invited to the next meeting to answer any concersn and inform trainers where the industry was heading.

  • The Secretary mentioned the arrival of a new trackwork rider called Amy. He encouraged all trainers to use her services as much as possible to help her improve her skills and sothat she will stay at Lismore and be an asset to the facility.

Meeting closed 7.10pm

Michael Timbrell
Secretary/Manager

 

ALSO IN THIS SECTION

 

 

 

 

Lismore Turf Club - Grandstand