SANGATA

The latest irritant in trainers lives has arrived.

The South African National Grooms and Assistant Trainers Association. These guys are apparently headed by former RA board members Trevor Raath and Peter Naidoo. Why these two should have anything to do with grooms and assistant trainers is not clear at all and the questions are flying about who is behind these two.

Attached is a self-explanatory letter that claims the allowances given to trainers should be going directly to the grooms. Trainers are up in arms as this subsidy was never intended for grooms. The shit will be hitting the fan shortly according to a Turffontein trainer.

Hibs perhaps you can open the attachment and paste it in the main body for me?

I cant get the file to attach even after resizing it

Over the Air wrote: I cant get the file to attach even after resizing it

My take on grooms is to take between 3-10% of jockeys win/place fees and give it directly to the grooms of the horse - The trainer already pays for the grooms via the owner but the Jockey gets the reward from the grooms efforts in stakes - I expect flack from Jocks and their agents but keeping grooms happy is as important as looking after punters. The industry does not need Government taking a magnifying glass to labour relations. I will hear stories of how many poor jockeys there are but they are the exception not the rule and I have yet to hear of grooms being well off. I think it's better to incentivize these people than to wait for them to break the industry. How many jockeys earn R650 a week?

Last week i heard something about a well to do factory giving their workers 2hours short time a day coz of load shedding...and i felt taken aback somewhat, because the fat cats at the top who implemented it took home their full salaries..and i thought that we sometimes dnt really look deep into ppls live and we complain about strikes etc,etc...but they are really necessary in an unfair country n society..imo the grooms really do/did need representation of some zort for the short comings and lack or rewards and recognision for em.. and again i speak kn general and salute the trainers who do treattheir staff well and pay em accordingly..imagine a horse costing 4mill but groom gets 2500pm.lol

How much do jockeys get paid per ride ?

At last I got it right! Hibs if you could insert it will be good. Some interesting names on the board of this association - Naidoo, Raath, Ntsele all RA boys. You have got to ask who is behind this and how these guys can decide on how trainers will pay their staff.

We have invited sagata to come and asses our grooms situation in flamingo poark to have a look at the living conditoins and the alcohol and substance abuse in the quaters here not a word has been heard from them.personally i think that sangata need 2 1st start a socio upliftment programme for the grooms

If trainers can`t afford to pay grooms a proper living wage then they should get out the game.

Put training fees up and pass it on to the grooms and not into a new Mercedes
If your owners are not happy they can get out the game.

Fucking embarassing imo that such an extravagent industry, that promotes champagne popping, prawn festivals and bling etc etc can treat the bottom rung like shite.

Bob we spend the money on the horse. We pay our way for the keep. The simple solution to the problem is that the owner of a horse should hire his own groom and reduce the trainers fees.

Sangata have been making noises and their latest demand that the full night racing allowance and Sunday allowance is paid to grooms going racing by trainers did not go down well with Trainers at all. Trainers argument is as follows -
1)Trainers negotiated a runner fee of R300 per runner for night racing and R150 for Sunday racing, in Gauteng. (KZN get R150 for night and for Sundays)
2 )These negotiations were concluded more than 10 years ago.
3) At the time, in Gauteng, Trainers were getting a free lunch for themselves plus their assistant or spouse. Part of the negotiations were the forfeiting of the free lunches, which was accepted by Trainers.
4) At this point, it is interesting to note that the allowances were originally paid by the Club staging the meeting and that, apparently, the money now comes from the stake pot. If true, one wonders how and why this change has occurred.
5)The fundamental principle remains that this "appearance money" was always paid to the Trainer for the purpose of assisting with all costs, including the grooms, back in the yard who receive the horses after racing. The overtimes, at double rates on Sundays, where stand in grooms, who are off duty, have to cover the work of the grooms who have gone racing. The assistant also has costs, there is overtime for the extra groom in the saddling process and also the kit groom who sees to the racing bag.
6)Mr Ferraris asked me to arrange a meeting between all Gauteng Trainers and Sangata, as well as Patrick Davis and Neville Harbott. This was done and the meeting took place at Turffontein on Wednesday past.

A large group of trainers attended from Gauteng. The meeting was opened by Mr.Ferraris, who explained how the appearance money was negotiated in the first place. Mr.Ferraris was rudely interrupted by Mr.Peter Naidoo , who shouted him down, pointed a finger at the veteran and legendary Trainer. And that was that ! Trainers immediately became hostile. The mood in the room was extremely explosive. Trainers openly stated that they have had enough of being disrespected in the industry. The hostility was because of the manner with which a Trainer of Mr.Ferraris standing and achievement was treated. Mike Azzie took over the floor and demanded that Peter Naidoo immediately stand down unless he paid the R48k in outstanding training fees which he owed Stuart Pettigrew for 4 years already. Mike further went on to remind the floor that the industry should never forget who the sales force of the industry were, who nominated the horses and who carried the can in terms of feeding and caring for horses, with no support when not paid.
Trevor Raath remained adamant that the appearance money did not belong to the Trainers but to the grooms. SANGATA were demanding a flat rate for all grooms, from the appearance money.

It seems that Sangata are nothing more than opportunists, looking to score some brownie points with their members and their masters. This is why -
1)By "giving" the appearance money to the grooms, there would be a shortfall, in terms of proper, gazetted overtime rates. Sangata would be breaking the law !
2)We still only get 7% of the stakes as Trainers in Phum regions, except CT and KZN, where Trainers get 10%. In those regions a percentage is deducted for grooms. Trainers believe that by going for the appearance money and forcing Trainers to pay it over is far easier for Sangata and RA, administration wise, than giving 10% to Trainers and deducting 1% for the grooms as in other centres.

Another joke is that SANGATA stands for the SA National Grooms and Assistant Trainers Association. At no point during the meeting were assistant Trainers even mentioned or considered by SANGATA. ...

As a team, we at LGRS have taken the following stand on the issue -
1)Our grooms are happy with our rates and working conditions. Peter Naidoo, when pressed on the matter, admitted that he had no complaints from our or Lucky Houdalakis grooms.
2) We are certainly not going to concede to any demands from SANGATA . We are an independant business, properly registered and fully compliant in terms of the law of the land and we have no interest in any form of collective negotiations nor bargaining as we do not have any recognition agreement in place with SANGATA, who in turn, have not approached us on the matter, have not tabled their credentials or registration documents nor sought an appointment with us.
3)We have a very happy team, with whom we communicate regularly.

I hear that Davis has said he agreed to nothing

tottenham wrote: Bob we spend the money on the horse. We pay our way for the keep. The simple solution to the problem is that the owner of a horse should hire his own groom and reduce the trainers fees.

nothing to do with it, we shouldnt be that scared to charge a wee bit extra so grooms can be better paid and trained better, it would benefit the groom and the owner in the long run if the quality of groom improved with better wages..

Look at Gooses yard, happy grooms ,happy yard ,happy horses