Stronach reneges on SA surface change..

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by richard

I'm sure the vacuum will be filled. It's an opportunity for someone else.

The lack of trainers is not an issue, it is the lack of owners. Lots of CA owners will simply get out if their trainers leave or they grow tired of the bs in CA. Those guys are tough to replace.

List of ease of replacement in order of hardest to easiest
1. Real bettors (not the guy who plays $2 in the derby pool)
2. Owners (the reason they are number 2 instead of at least tied for number 1 is that at least they can get some enjoyment out of the social aspect of the sport while losing all their money)
3. Fans (breakdowns, etc. chase them away but most are suckers for a sob story )
4. Good Assistants/Ex riders - (they do grunt work, have terrible hours, get substandard pay and receive little glory and there are fewer and fewer qualified ones to be found every year)
5. Jockeys (In 2010 people are just plain larger overall and if the size issue wasnt so important they would fall down this list dramatically)
6. Trainers (while the standards for getting a license are awful low it is getting increasingly harder to find people to risk the amount of money trainers must to do business. Not to mention the increasingly complicated labor laws to deal with that simply dont take into consideration the dymanics of horseracing. However there will never be a shortage of trainers)
7. Grooms (the level of horsemanship has dropped dramatically over the last 20 years. If a guy shows up on a consistent basis, doesnt freebase crack and can put on a saddle, bridle and bandage they are considered good help. Sadly if they fail one of those three qualifications they are bad help but often still employable)
8. Racing Secretaries (They have been stripped of power in many places and the revolving door of changes at top level tracks like GP have reduced their importance. But there are still lots of eager lower level racing officials that would jump at an opportunity to get the top job)
9. TV Analysts (with a few notable exceptions many of these people are simply not qualified of have a opinion to be shared as "expertise" and are hurting the saps that listen to them as opposed to helping.
10. Announcers (It isnt an easy skill to acquire but i have never heard of an announcer shortage)
11. Racing executives (Magna=revolving door)
12. Jockey Agents (Would be ranked even lower but some of them bet way more than they should which is a net positive)
13. Bloodstock Agents (Has any one group stolen/robbed/chased away so many good/potential clients than these guys? Sure they all arent crooks but enough of them are to drop the whole group. There are no standards to be a bloodstock agent, you dont even have to be licensed)