Prominent trainer Simon Miller has led a call for Racing Wagering Western Australia to outline the future direction of the state’s thoroughbred industry. (Photo: Western Racepix)

Western Australia’s highest-profile thoroughbred trainers will next week meet with the state’s racing regulator to air their concerns amid fears prize money could be slashed in a bid to balance the books.

WA’s leading trainers are “increasingly frustrated by the current state of the industry and, more importantly, deeply concerned about its future direction” and have flagged numerous issues with the regulator they believe need to be urgently addressed.

In a letter sent to chief executive Ian Edwards on September 22, they claim the governing body’s “unwillingness to meaningfully engage with stakeholders on these matters” has led to the drastic action taken by the state’s premier trainers.

The extensive two-page letter was signed by Simon Miller, Neville Parnham, Steve Wolfe, Dan Morton, Luke Fernie, Trevor Andrews, Adam Durrant and last season’s premiership winners Grant and Alana Williams. 

The concerns raised by trainers include:

  • The lack of accountability by Perth Racing about the closure of the Belmont racecourse for a two-month period earlier this year, believing that the “failure of track management should never have occurred”. 
  • The cost of running a training business, particularly the impost of workers’ compensation insurance, describing it as an “existential issue” that needs to be prioritised by RWWA.
  • The administration costs of RWWA, with the group urging the principal racing authority to examine its own expenditure and running costs before reducing prize money and associated funding.
  • Harness racing’s “unsustainable burden on the wider racing industry” and the scheduling and structure of race meetings, particularly in remote regions of the state, such as Kununurra. 
  • The Off-The-Track program for retired racehorses and whether there was a better way to manage the retraining of ex-racehorses.

The concerns had been kept in-house until Miller went on the industry-owned radio station TAB Radio last Friday to air the trainers’ frustrations publicly.

His interview came a day after it was announced that RWWA would sell its radio assets to SEG, the Craig Hutchison-led media organisation which also recently bought the loss-making Racing Victoria-owned RSN radio station for $3.25 million.

“I feel sorry for you guys and everyone that’s involved. It’s just a sad time, isn’t it? Like, you look at RWWA, they’re hemorrhaging money everywhere,” Miller told the radio station in what was initially intended to be a preview of the trainer’s runners scheduled to start at Ascot last Saturday.

“And, you know, they’ve got to stem the bleeding. But that’s the first domino to fall. But make no mistake that my gut feeling, and I hope I’m wrong, is that the second domino to fall will be prize money.

“If that were to be the case, that’d be disastrous because it’s never been more expensive to train a horse and then owners will just cop it more. But we’re in a bit of a sort of volatile area at the moment.

“I’ve got no doubt that if they were to drop prize money, they’d let us get through the Pinnacles, let us get through the yearling sales and kick us between the teeth after that, once owners have invested in the yearlings. 

“I hope I’m wrong, but if you sell your radio station, then there’s no doubt prize money will be on the agenda.” 

RWWA confirmed executives would meet with the bloc of leading Perth trainers on October 23, a month after the letter was sent to Edwards.

“RWWA has received the letter from Simon Miller on behalf of a group of metropolitan-based trainers,” a RWWA spokesperson said in a statement to The Straight.

“Chief executive officer Ian Edwards and chief racing officer David Hunter have invited the trainers to meet next week to discuss the matters raised in the correspondence.

“RWWA remains committed to working collaboratively with all industry participants to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Western Australian racing industry.”

In contrast to other principal racing authorities, whose state governments sold off their totalisator licences, RWWA controls the state-owned Western Australian TAB, the parimutuel and fixed-odds bookmaker TAB Touch.

Miller chose not to expand on the contents of the letter or what he said on radio when contacted by The Straight this week.

The trainers, however, want to work constructively with RWWA for the betterment of the industry.

“The challenges before us are serious. What is needed now is visible, accountable leadership and a renewed commitment to working with stakeholders,” they wrote. 

“We urge you to seize this moment to rebuild confidence and trust by fostering open, transparent, and ongoing dialogue. 

“Our intention in writing to you is not simply to criticise, but to offer an opportunity to reset the relationship between RWWA and those on the front line of the industry.”