Stable Staff Suffering During Shutdown

The shutdown of British racing through April as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has already been “catastrophic” to stable staff, said George McGrath, chief executive of the National Association of Racing Staff. McGrath told Sky Sports Racing that the organization, which represents about 7,500 stable workers, has been inundated with calls since the British Horseracing Authority announced on Tuesday that racing would cease for six weeks.

“Without a doubt the main concerns are job losses and redundancies,” McGrath said. “Where do they get money from? Some have gone into work to be turned away by employers and they are asking what their rights are.

“It's carnage out there at the moment because people are very worried, and that includes trainers; nobody wants to let their staff go but if money isn't coming in how do you pay people?

McGrath said there is a grant available through Racing Welfare to aid workers.

“There is a hardship grant available to our members so if they contact us we will direct them to Racing Welfare services who will get to them as soon as they can,” he said. “Traditionally most staff will survive from one week to the next. Most of my members are paid weekly, some fortnightly–very few monthly. Like a lot of people in the country they might be able to survive without one pay cheque, but if you've got to go two or three you're going to struggle.”

Within four days of racing being cancelled, stable staff have already been put out of work.

“Since the first announcement of no racing we have had members put out of work. The industry was gearing up to race behind closed doors with a reduced fixture list, but the landscape changed so quickly the rug was taken from under our feet when the political ramifications were made clear and medical advice said we couldn't continue. The industry is working incredibly hard and is as co-ordinated as it has ever been to alleviate the pressure that everybody is under.

“The reality is the racing industry is looking at a loss of around £200-million if we can't get going before June and as an industry and from an employer perspective we simply can't survive that outlook. Trainers are doing their utmost to help staff keep their jobs, but by and large they are small businessmen with a massive cashflow problem.”

McGrath said a silver lining is that stable staff are well placed from a health and safety standpoint to withstand the pandemic.

“The majority of the work takes place outdoors and the majority of the work takes place where you are very unlikely to be as close as a metre to someone–even if you are riding out upsides,” said McGrath. “Most strings ride one behind another. Most yards are practising social isolation and have extra handwash facilities. Most of my members are under 60 so unless they have underlying health issues are likely to survive the virus. We are a young, resilient, hard-working workforce so in some respects that is the silver lining to the cloud.”