Young15

I think this is an issue with multiple causes. Stakes on the whole have not risen to match the costs, so your everyday trainers are training less. This already reduces the pool of horses coming through. The bigger stables still have their numbers and like what's happened with the Allstars, they are continuing to dominate and becoming bigger as more and more trainers cut down or move on. The costs vs stakes also influences a lot of owners/trainers to have to sell (if they're trying to make a living) . Selling some to keep the others going. If you have a horse that you think will make open class but that's not going to be good enough to compete with the top ones (which at the moment is dominated by the Allstars) you have to make the decision to race till they reach their mark and then sell or continue to be running around for placings at best, at the top level. This issue has been building for a long time, in the past 10 years I've seen so many smaller trainers leave the industry or have to get supplementary jobs because even if you have a nice horse who could win a few the stakes aren't enough to cover the costs and keep going. If HRNZ is wanting to just keep the big trainers going and force the smaller guys out then they're going down the right track. The new rating system which I have yet to hear many positives about is also making it harder and we are more likely to see more horses go overseas. When a 2 or 3 year old can be open class after 5-6 wins, how does that encourage anyone to continue if their horses at 4yrs aren't up to racing at cup level? Apologies if this post has diverted a bit from the original post but I believe this is a multifaceted issue.