Grooms to share in stakes earned

In line with the racing industry’s commitment to uplift and assist with grooms’ transformation, the Racing Operators and the Racing Association will shortly be facilitating the implementation of the payment of 1% of all stakes earned to grooms.

Many trainers are already either meeting or exceeding such payments to their grooms, but this will now be facilitated formally through the Racing Operators’ central stakes administration system.

The idea is that this will replace the existing arrangement whereby trainers are paying their grooms a bonus when their horses earn, and thereafter recover it from the owner. Obviously, if trainers wish to exceed the 1% bonus paid to their grooms separately, that is their choice, but the Racing Operators will ONLY facilitate payment of the 1%.

Due to the various logistical and practical complications of making these payments directly to the individual grooms concerned, the Racing Operators will instead transfer the 1% deduction into each trainer’s special “Grooms Account” for onward dispersal by the trainers to the relevant grooms in their employ.

www.sportingpost.co.za/2015/05/grooms-stake-share/

This is not a solution to the problem of uplifting the grooms.

So for every million a YARD earns the Grooms fund will get 10000 rand.

Two problems here.

Number of grooms in Yard and Multiples of the the yard size. so that 10k must be split between many grooms. at present there are only 37 yards with more than 2 million in stakes for the entire season. so the grooms at the other 120 plus yard will earn very small amount in a 12 months cycle. if anything this will cause grooms to jump ship and try work for bigger yards.

the management of the Grooms account by the yards themselves is open to abuse. u are entrusting the yard to pay the grooms what they are entitled. Most the grooms are not financial wiz kids how with they know if they are short changed and if they are who do they tell about this.

A better solution would be to pay each groom per horse that runs similar to Jockeys. Irrespective of result. This would have a far wider relief for the grooms employed in SA Racing.

i can't see major admin on having each groom listed as a recipient and at month end doing transfers.

i think they are passing the buck.

How many grooms get paid their wages into a bank account ? Or is cash in pay packets for most ?

Remember not that long ago a strike at the big T was over living conditions , with grooms claiming the money paid by Phumelela to some trains to improve conditions was miss used ?