Ray: We shouldn’t be forced into being cannon fodder for Sires’ Stakes stars

Trainer Ray Green is pressing for a review of the no escape clause which has seen six horses transferred to a Sires’ Stakes heat at Cambridge next week in which he says they will only be “cannon fodder.”

Four Lincoln Farms’ pacers and two from Stonewall Stud were entered in supporting races on Friday’s Night Of Champions, where they would have been among the favourites.

But a condition inserted into the conditions of Sires Stakes races three years ago means no winning horses paid-up for the series can run in any other race on the programme unless there is a full field of 13.

With only six nominations for the second heat of the series, Harness Racing New Zealand took Leo Lincoln and Lincoln La Moose out of the Maiden Graduation, and Iron Brigade, Precious Bet, Lenny Lincoln and Obadiah Dragon out of the 3yo and older up to R50 pace.

Instead of having the chance to win $30,000 races, the six rating 45 to 49 horses now have to front up to far superior animals for a $25,000 stake.

Neither Green nor Stonewall Stud’s Steve Stockman have much of an appetite for taking on four of the first six home in the Northern Derby - winner Cold Chisel (R78), third-placed We Walk By Faith (R70), fifth-placed Hadron Collider (R52) and unlucky sixth placed Vessem (R64).

Only six horses willingly entered for the Sires’ Stakes heat at Cambridge on Friday night. How many will be withdrawn?“Most of ours are grossly outclassed and we’re being pressed into a race we don’t want to be in where we’ll be cannon fodder for Cold Chisel,” Green said.

“I wouldn’t have worried so much if it had been a normal meeting with lesser stakes but $30,000 is probably the most money these horses will get to race for in their life times.

“I don’t want to run in the Sires’ Stakes heat but if I scratch them all, that’s four horses who can’t race at the meeting. We can’t afford to be chasing people away.”

Green said while Lincoln Farms had done well in previous Sires’ Stakes with horses like Sir Lincoln, King Of Swing and Copy That, the reality was 90% of horses who pay up for the series don’t turn out to be good enough.

“I believe when we know our horses aren’t up to Sires Stakes racing we should be able to opt out of it.

“We need to sort this out. Lincoln Farms will be very reluctant in the future to pay up for all our horses - there are plenty of other races to go in.”

Martin Pierson … “It might sound awful and draconian to force trainers to run but it’s a step the sport has taken to survive.”New Zealand Sires’ Stakes Board executive Martin Pierson said while he sympathised with Green and Stockman, this was not about Lincoln Farms or Stonewall Stud but the entire industry.

“It might upset people but it’s for the greater good,” Pierson said.

“No one really wins when we go round with five or six horses. The industry can no longer afford to put up good stakes and have eligible horses going in other races and beating up the older horses.

“It might sound awful and draconian to force trainers to run but it’s a step the sport has taken to survive. Twenty five years of complacency is catching up with us and if we don’t fix this we’ll be in a world of pain in two or three years.”

Pierson said the “no escape” condition was adopted in response to HRNZ’s concern that the Sires’ Stakes fields were continually diminishing in size.

The board’s original proposal that all eligible horses must race in Sires’ Stakes races was rejected and watered down to allow maidens to compete in lesser events.

“The Sires’ Stakes is important to this country. We’ve been brave enough to do this and we need other people to take our lead. Only then can we turn around the flagging fortunes of this industry.”

The Cambridge scenario was one which should never have happened, however, and one which Pierson flagged when asked by the club if the Sires Stakes heat could be run on Grins night.

With the correct programming, the alternate races could have been restricted to four-year-olds and older, eliminating the option for three-year-olds.

Just what might happen if a Sires’ Stakes eligible three-year-old wanted to run in the Race by Grins was also a controversy-in-waiting if the heat remains on the same night.

Pierson said the board would be revisiting the issue to consider if the no escape conditions need further tweaking.

Given his way, Pierson said he would like to see it widened to include an umbrella over an entire region.

Why, for instance, should a horse like Cocktails And Caviar, so impressive on debut at Addington last week, be going round in a low grade race at the Cheviot meeting there today where it would start a $1.75 favourite and strangle betting.

Wouldn’t the industry have benefitted from having more runners take on Chase A Dream when he beat five rivals in the Sires’ Stakes heat at Addington on Friday night at odds of $1.08, Pierson says.

Bill-paying owners not wanting to throw their horses in the deep end too soon, however, might have something to say about that.