The Racing NSW board has approved strappers’ payments of two percent of prizemoney to interstate staff provided stables meet the criteria and satisfy Racing NSW transparency standards regarding their payrolls.
The payments had been restricted to NSW stables because of the way they were structured. Racing NSW believed it could only audit NSW licensed staff.
Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys says the strappers’ payments will be made to stables around the country.Credit: Kate Geraghty
But a trial with an interstate stable during the spring was successful, and the payments are set to be backdated to The Championships of 2022. However, it will only be made to stables that are open to the system Racing NSW uses for the payments.
“The payment is not just to the strapper of a horse on a certain day,” Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys explained. “It is for all the paid staff at a stable, so they can share in any success.
“We wanted to get a system in place where we can make sure all the staff get it, not just one strapper because we know running a stable is a team effort.
“It was designed to help the staff, who do the work no one sees in the mornings and afternoons. Everyone plays a part in a winning stable.”
Giga Kick’s owner Jonathan Munz had petitioned Racing NSW to pay the strappers’ two-percent fee to all interstate stables after The Everest.
“I requested a change of policy and this decision is a good decision, but it needs to be dated back to the beginning of the payments,” Munz said.
There had been talk of legal action from Victorian stables over the payments, but V’landys said he wanted to protect the integrity of the strappers’ fee.
“We made a wage threshold for who gets paid it, to target those at the bottom of the industry and every NSW stable has to put the hours worked by the staff that are eligible,” V’landys said. “We needed to be able to audit.
“Any interstate stable which wants to be paid the strapper payment will be required to go through the same processes for transparency.”
Melbourne trainer Grahame Begg welcomed the payments for his staff from Sydney successes after the wins of Passive Aggressive and Magic Time during the carnival and questioned why the system wasn’t used in other states.
“This is a bonus for my staff and at a time when it is hard to find people to work in the industry, it helps,” Begg said. “I can’t see why Racing Victoria would look at it and try to replicate it.”
Sargent hopes for Gust Of Wind experience with Xtrarevz
John Sargent will consider giving The Coast winner Palmetto a shot at the Doomben Cup in a couple of weeks on the advice of jockey Kerrin McEvoy, who will head to Adelaide to ride Xtrarevz in the South Australian Derby for the stable on Saturday.
“Kerrin said the Doomben Cup, I was thinking the Lord Mayors Cup at Rosehill with him, but it might be worth shooting for the stars,” Sargent said. “I have a lot of his owners coming over from New Zealand that weekend and I’m sure they would go to Brisbane to see him run in a group 1.”
McEvoy will attempt a group 1 coup with last start Scone winner Xtrarevz back in his home state on Saturday, and Sargent admitted he has memories of Gust Of Wind handing Winx her last defeat in the Australian Oaks in 2015.
“The last time I took a Scone winner to a classic we beat Winx,” Sargent said. “This bloke has always been a stayer and was very strong at the end at Scone over 2200m.
“I got Kerrin to jump on him in the morning after that win and he said he would go to Adelaide to ride him. It is a big vote of confidence from one of the best distance riders around.”
Giga Kick uses Doomben 10,000 as part of Everest preparation
The Everest has changed Australian racing in a short period. Not only is it the country’s most talked about race, it has made other sprints more important – in particular Moonee Valley’s Moir Stakes and the Doomben 10,000.
Defending Everest champion Giga Kick will have one final run this season in Saturday’s Doomben 10,000, proving that stables want to keep their sprinters going for another month after the TJ Smith.
He is joined by Aft Cabin, Mazu, Eduardo, Overpass and Mariamia, which could all be in The Everest in October.
“We just want to keep him going because you don’t want these horses to have too long off and this race is perfectly placed to have a break and be back for the races we want to run in in the lead-up to The Everest,” Giga Kick’s trainer Clayton Douglas said.
Eduardo and Mazu have won the past two editions of the Doomben 10,000 and Redzel won the race in 2017 before winning the first two Everests.
The Moir’s reputation has grown because it offers the chance to push claims for a slot in The Everest.
Jo Jo looks to go dancing via Scone Cup
John Thompson has targeted the Scone Cup with his miler Jo Jo Was A Man and hopes apprentice Reece Jones can continue his outstanding association with the five-year-old on Friday.
Jo Jo Was A Man won twice over the Randwick mile during the Festive season and Thompson saw the Scone Cup as a way back there for the Big Dance in November.
“We knew he takes a couple of runs to get fit and his third in the Hawkesbury Cup last time was the perfect lead-up,” Thompson said. “The preparation has all been about the Scone Cup because it would get us into the Big Dance and he is ready to peak.
“Reece gets on with him very well and it would be great for him to go back to his hometown of Scone and win the Cup.”
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