National Council Meeting Report September 2022
Having not met physically for some considerable time, it was always going to be a marathon when the Trainers & Drivers National Council held a meeting recently – more than 6 hours long in fact. Along with guests, Catherine McDonald (HRNZ) and Nigel McIntyre (RIB), the topics on the agenda were wide and varied, some involving some intense discussion.
Following Jay Abernethy being confirmed as Chair, matters covered concerning the RIB included the HRNZ Conference remit to ban drivers talking on the track, an assurance of the option of connections being able to go to the Adjudicative Committee under the upcoming remit if there is disagreement with the Steward’s ruling on breaking horses, a wish for a threshold for methamphetamine in horses to avoid recent incidents in greyhounds and the risk of contamination by employees, consistency for standing start warnings (apparently given only at their first error when a horse loses all chance), the requirement for horses to be in their allocated boxes on the track following incidents at Cambridge, the use and size of mudguards and mud sheets, animal welfare, driving standards (generally good), the recommended dumping of any unlabelled products in stables, and the introduction of relegation instead of disqualification for horses going inside markers when they are clear of following runners.
Issues touched on with Catherine other than mentioned above included, the abolition of posting last start drivers when the fields go online, which has caused confusion, in conjunction with trainers being able to nominate drivers online after the fields are out, criteria for the extension of Junior Driver licenses (T&D were asked for feedback on this), the celebration gesture remit, and a great amount of discussion on programming which all agree is currently far from satisfactory. Matters raised by HRNZ included the lengthening of scratching penalties (not supported), trainers commissions on horse sales, the necessity for qualifying times, and concern at the 45% wastage of horses foaled. It was suggested that the latter was probably just due to injury or lack of ability to be competitive.
A lot to work on there, stay tuned for updates.
Pete Cook