The current state of the UK horse Racing Industry. An Interview with John Berry

John Berry is currently in his fourteenth season as a dual-purpose trainer based in Newmarket, during which period he has trained roughly 100 winners, mostly on the Flat, and most obviously with such horses as Largesse, Il Principe, Jack Dawson, Diamond Joshua, Benedict and Brief Goodbye. The benefit of being in Newmarket for a small trainer is that one has access to the outstanding training facilities on Newmarket Heath, but set against this is the fact that it is a very competitive environment with over sixty trainers in the town, hence the fact that he rarely ever has more than a dozen inexpensive horses in work at any time.

Q1: Do you feel there are currently too many Horse Racing meetings?

It would take several pages to provide a balanced answer to this question, so I'm not going to try to provide one in a sentence.

Q2: Are the current meetings fairly and sensibly spread over the country?

No: the fixture list on recent Bank Holidays has made that clear.

Q3: What kind of races would you like to see more of and which less of?

I don't think that there are any serious problems in either regard.

Q4: Do you feel the various grades of races receive the correct proportion of prize money?

In an imperfect world I'd say that the balance has been got just about right.

Q5: Is the current level of prize money on offer sufficient to both encourage new owners and retain existing ones?

Currently one would have to say that it is because there are plenty of horses in training at the moment, but I fear that this situation won't pertain indefinitely if and when the economy takes a down-turn.

Q6: Should there be more major races staged on a Sunday?

No; I feel that Saturday works well as the day for major races.

Q7: Do you think the sex and age allowances in this country set at a fair level?

The weight-for-age and weight-for-sex scale is probably about right, but in an ideal world I'd like to see all championship races run at level weights. That would be fair, and it would encourage people to campaign good horses well into maturity. Furthermore, I'm not sure that the current proliferation of fillies- and mares-only races makes sense, bearing in mind that the fillies and mares receive a sex allowance when they run against colts and geldings. Logically one could argue that colts and geldings should be allowed to run in the mares' races as long as they carry a penalty.

Q8: Is “All Weather Racing” good for the long term future of the sport?

Yes: sadly the grass tracks are getting into an ever-worse state (Sandown and York being obvious examples) because of over-use, which from a horse welfare point of view is not good, so AW racing is of great benefit in taking the pressure of the turf tracks. It's less appealing aesthetically, but from a horse welfare point of view it is vital if we are going to sustain the amount of racing we currently have without building several more grass tracks.

Q9: Should Racing only operate on six days a week?

No. Sadly it isn't in racing's interests for there to be no racing on any days that betting shops are open.

Q10. How can we make Racing more attractive to the Sporting public?

How many hours do we have to discuss ideas on this topic?

Q11: Do you agree with artificially watering racecourses?

Yes, although I think it is often over-done.

Q12: Are there enough new owners entering racing?

See my answer to question five.

Q13: How can the BHB be improved?

See my answer to question one. I would have to say, though, that, although the organisation has its faults, it gets a lot of things right.

Q14: What changes if any, would you like to see in the way Stewards Enquiries are held?

I think the current system works fairly well.

Q15: Do the Bookmakers hold too much power?

The obvious answer is ‘Yes', but there's no point worrying about things that it isn't feasible to alter, and we are never going to live in Utopia.

Q16: Are Bookmakers contributing enough to Horse Racing?

The obvious answer is ‘No', but again one has to take a realistic view of how things operate in the modern commercial world, and concentrate on what is achievable rather than waste time wishing for what isn't.

Q17: Do you agree that Betting Exchanges are a “cheat's charter”?

That's not a phrase which I would use, but I think that they definitely encourage the worse sides of human nature.

Q18: Who should own the Tote?

I don't think what's relevant is the identity of the Tote's owner – in fact, I would really say that it should be owned as such, bearing in mind that I wouldn't regard it as something which should ever be bought or sold – but the important fact is that it should be run for the benefit of racing as a whole.

Q19: Can the average trainer survive on prize money won and fees alone?

Yes, as long as he actually is being paid training fees for all the horses in his stable, which doesn't happen very often. And as long as he does plenty of the work himself, rather than merely delegating and as long as he doesn't have too high expectations of what he is going to get out of racing financially. Very few honest trainers are ever going to get rich out of racing, but it ought to be feasible for an industrious and competent trainer to make a living. Sadly in practice I don't make a living from training at present, as I own too high a proportion of the horses in the stable myself, which is an ever-present danger for unfashionable trainers.

Q20: Is it harder to hire and retain staff now than it was ten years ago?

No.

Q21: What ratio of staff to horses do you operate?

On an average day we ride three horses each.

Q22: In % terms, how much have costs risen in the last year and what single item has increased the most?

Costs have risen above the rate of inflation, but I couldn't give you an accurate figure off the top of my head. Feed, hay and bedding have all gone up a lot, as has the cost of transporting the horses to the races. My farrier recently put his prices up by nearly 50%, but set against that is that it was the first increase he'd ever made in the fourteen years that he has been shoeing for me, so I think one was due!

Q23: How much has rising costs affected your business?

Answer: It has made things tougher because I never like to put my basic charges up ahead of the rate of inflation, but lack of patronage is a more pressing problem than any particular rise in my expenditure. I made a mistake initially in setting my fees, which must be very close to being the cheapest in Newmarket , too low, mistakenly thinking that that would encourage owners to patronize the stable, but I'm rather stuck with that problem now

Q24: Are you able to pass any of your increased costs on?

Some of them – see answer to question 24.

Q25: How has the Foxhunting ban affected you?

It hasn't.

Q26: In your view, how corrupt is Horse Racing?

I think racing, like all walks of life, attracts both honest people and crooks. There are plenty of crooks in racing, but then there are plenty of crooks in any area of life. The problem for the modern world in general is that it is becoming increasingly hard for anyone ever to be convicted of anything: laws do seem ever more applied to protect the guilty. I think that, overall, the authorities do a good job in keeping the sport fairly clean. The depressing fact of the racing and the bloodstock world is that there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to show that honesty, while being the best policy, isn't the most remunerative one.

Q27: Do you feel the Racehorse is as robust as it used to be?

No.

Q28: Will we ever see a woman champion jockey (Flat or National Hunt)?

It seems hard to imagine, certainly in the short-term or medium-term, but stranger things have happened. A few years ago one would have said that it was very hard to envisage a girl being champion apprentice, but that has now already happened.

Q29: Does “blood doping” exist within racing?

I find it very hard to see that it does, merely from a practical point of view.

Q30: Is it possible to stop trainers and owners betting on their horses to lose?

I doubt it.

Q31: In your view, which kind of races should punters avoid?

That's a matter of personal preference.

Q32: Can you supply two horses for Priceform readers to follow?

I would describe Alkhafif and Doctor Freemantle as two of the best-looking horses that I have seen this season, and I would expect them each to have a good future.

Anyone interested in finding out more about this stable can look on John's website www.beverleyhousestables.com .