Do Trainers make big money?

Craig Eudey Wrote:

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> Mr H we had to put down Falko a few months ago
> after he got laminitis after a rig op. Tried
> everything. we basically had 3hrs sleep a night
> for a week with icing him etc. Eventually on the
> Vets advice we took that terrible decision. He was
> a lovely kind horse. It was like losing a kid.


Yup my poor trainer spent his whole night trying to save our guy so it's really a terrible disease and it all started with a bout of colic

its like any business if your owners pay on time then you can make a reasonable living but if they don't and you have to make deals with them like visser you will go out ...rather have an empty box than have a non paying owner..its an expensive hobby but enjoyable one if you have the right mindset when owning and if you find the right trainer to suit your needs ..there no short cuts with horses when it comes to feed bedding etc

They don't make money at all.Only the top ten on the log have enough to put aside.When i spoke to David Payne and Michael Airey about 20 years ago and suggested that the local trainers should form a company which had bank guaranteed credit accounts for each owner so that basically every month every client got an account from the Jockey Club and if it was not paid within 30 days he would be listed as a defaulter or asked for a bigger guarantee.This would have solved the problem as people are always scared to be warned off.But our beloved Jockey Club refused to go with it and has now lost the support of the bookmakers by not listing non payers as defaulters for all to see.There are always two sides to a coin.Bookmakers will not join the NHRA until they enforce the warning off rule.

Here is a genuine question, how many of the trainers have proper accountants looking after their affairs?

Biggest problem in alot of owner managed businesses.

Richie77 Wrote:

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> Here is a genuine question, how many of the
> trainers have proper accountants looking after
> their affairs?
>
> Biggest problem in alot of owner managed
> businesses.

I know quite a few a trainers and from what I have seen, they have dedicated staff managing their accounts / owners invoices etc. including trainers who train for me (tu)

Not sure is all trainers have staff managing their books

Let's be honest - If it was such a lucrative profession then trainers would not bother with owners and their problems and rather buy and train all their own stock (some trainers I know have been forced to do this as owners pull out of deals or fall on hard times but they do not do this from choice)

Based on what Trainers in Gauteng and KZN have been telling me, it appears that 70% of us are battling to make ends meet. Most have battled to keep up with inflation over the last 5 years and are now too far behind, it seems.

Too true Louis.

I have to say that from my experience in horse racing..Racehorse trainers are absolutely fantastic people..they work long hard difficult hours, they love the animals they work with, they put up with all kinds of sh*t from the owners, people don't pay them on time, they have to be good with people, they always have to look for the positives as its their livelihood (nobody pays them a salary), they have to try predict carefully how their horses will run in a race, they have to pick races carefully for their animals, they have large staff compliment with they have to pay even if the stable is not performing, they have to protect their horses from all kinds of bacteria virus and injuries, they have to try keep the vet bills down for the owners..I can go on and on..I firmly believe that in SA trainers do not charge enough when compared to their international counterparts..these people do it because its their passion and love and I doubt that many of them are getting very rich through their jobs.