Page 32 - August 2005 The Game

32 The Game, August 2005 Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper
Abandoned Horses Now Recovering with Care
Stallion, Fort Chaffee
In January, at the abandoned Bramalea farm, fifteen year-old stal- lion, Fort Chaffee, was alone in the back. He was the only horse left that hadn’t been found a home. “Nobody wanted him,” said Lori Neilson who recalled the day she first saw the stal- lion, “He was sitting on the other side of the barn by himself.”
Lori had recently sold her Canadian Stallion to a farm in Alberta and figured that she had room for Fort Chaffee and made the arrangements to take him home.
It has taken a while for Fort Chaffee to regain the weight which he lost during the weeks, he and 32 other thoroughbreds went without food last December and January however Lori is optimistic that this son of Mr. Prospector will be able to resume his stud duties in 2006.
Stallion Fort Chaffee as seen in the 1998 Bloodhorse Stallion Book.
Lori Neilson also adopted a couple of mares from the Bramalea farm and is currently fostering one other.
From left to right are: Vacue
Princess, a 4-year-old filly by
I Can’t Believe, who Lori is
fostering after the foster home
she was at couldn’t keep her;
Ruqiya (IRE) is a 7-year-old
Irish bred mare by Wolf Hound,
who was originally brought to
Canada specifically for breeding; Raven is Lori’s 2-year-old Canadian bred horse,
who was not at the Bramalea farm (Lori has been a breeder of Canadian horses for 15 years) ; Web Whiz, a 7-year-old Maria’s Mon mare had slipped her foal due lack of
food at the Bramalea. She was so badly underweight when she arrived at Lori’s farm that she could not lift her head.
Taking care of business
By Kelly MacKay
With the trainers testing about to commence in August, this is a perfect opportunity to go over the business aspect of training.
Being a great trainer is not just being a good caretaker and conditioner; it is an admirable quality for sure, but book- keeping and sound finances should be paramount in the minds of every training business man and women; after all this is how you make your living.
The racetrack can be a hard place to make ends meet, even under the best of circumstances. With a tight grip on your purse strings and a little business knowledge, training can be enjoyable and profitable.
Most trainers agree that having a good bookkeeper or accountant is a wise decision.
“There never seems to be enough hours in a day to handle it all,” says trainer Paul Nelson, “I have changed over to “quick books” where you can punch in all the data, and it is pretty easy. It keeps running tabs. I do all my own billing and then I send it off to my accountant. He remits my GST, Federal Income Tax, payroll and worker’s comp.”
Paul also says it is a very good idea to open a business account and keep your personal finances separate. He also includes some extras billing in his contracts that include one percent paid to the grooms. The advice he offers to new trainers starting in the business is, “I would certainly tell them to get a very good accountant and maybe even take a small business course.”
Trainer Norm McKnight says with a straight face, “Deals are the perfect way to go broke as a trainer.” He insists that should an eager beginner be tempted, don’t forget to include in your “deal agreement” some percentage of the claiming price. There is nothing worse than putting a lot of time and money into your “deal horse” and having it get claimed before you can make anything- leaving the trainer with nothing but an empty stall.
Trainer Beverly Chubb admits she has sunk herself in the past. “Taking too many horses on deals and not carefully evaluating what it costs to do the job daily.”
Beverly advises on calculating your day rates. “You can get away with a bit less if you are a smaller outfit and you do it your- self.” explaining to me that once you reach a certain amount of horses, the work becomes too much and help is required. If full time grooms, hot walkers or exercise riders start being factored into the picture, day rates get compromised. “You don’t really make much on day rate, it just allows you to continue to try and win races.” says Beverly.
Trainer John Di Marco finds it useful to hire part-time or freelance help when work gets to be too much for him and his family to handle. John’s advice to aspiring trainers is “Spring time is hell...everything is going out and nothing is coming in. Some owners pay me in advance and we work it
out over the course of the year.” Bookkeeper Shelly Goel informs her
clients to make sure to pay their GST and Tax Remittance on time. “The government can come after you and freeze your account. A lot of trainers spend the GST as if it is their own and it is not.”
Trainer Phil England, believes it is wise to think about taking a small business course and his advice to new trainers is, “Don’t let the bills get bigger than the horses are worth.”
Corinne Phillips works closely with the horsemen on a daily bases in the HBPA office. She explains the services such as, workman’s comp related issues, and labour inquires, immigration and B1’s for winter racing across the border. She encourages trainers to think about purchasing insurance to cover themselves personally and to consider the medical/dental insurances, especially if you are going away for the winter because it includes out of town coverage.
Trainer Peter Berringer searches out better deals on hay, bedding, and grain to save a few dollars and he ships it into the track with his own truck. Peter states, “I have an advantage because I have a farm and I need to buy it anyway, so I can store it.” Peter’s next piece of advice is more of a word to the wise. “The cable, satellite, hydro can all be turned off – I still have to feed and train the horses. If they (clients) don’t pay me it is not like I can say ‘on the 7th that is it.’ You really are financing the training for a lot of people. I mean starting up in the spring some of these big guys are out thirty, forty, fifty thousand dollars before they get paid a nickel.”
Peter also brings up the fact that if racing stables were run like other businesses, the interest on loans incurred would be added on to the day rate. Most times in the racing industry it is not.
Former Trainer - now Paddock Judge - Fenton Platts, recalls the financial errors he made. “You get a lump sum check at the end of the month and it is about $2100 a horse. If you run a ten horse stable your looking at having $21,000 a month. People don’t realize they’re not able to keep that money... it goes right out.”
“Payroll, hay, feed, and the tack shop - that is how I got into trouble. I thought I could just start buying screens, mats, and more tack. Then you have a bad month and all you have got is your money from training and you didn’t win any races, so there is no ten percent to receive from trainingeither.”
Fenton informs me that yes you can write off business expenses but “you have to able to afford those things to be able to do it right.” When calculating your day rate factor in items like poultice, liniments, and bandages and consider putting in your contract a clause for extra billing of such items as special medication for horses that tie up or special equipment. Fenton’s advise to beginners, “A lot of young trainers don’t realize the cost of everything in a stall. A mat, screen, water bucket, feed tub, webbing, and tie chain, screw eyes; these things cost money.” Cont. Pg. 34
Seven-year-old mare, Fielder’s Choice, with her April 25 Fort Chaffee colt, at the farm of Bill and Minky (Nerile) Boncheff, who adopted the pregnant mare from the abandoned Bramalea Farm in January. In January, Bill Boncheff’s trailering company, Top Line Horse Transport, had moved a majority of the neglected horses to their new foster homes free of charge.
Fielder’s Choice is enjoying her new home which sits on 92 acres near Orangeville. Minky mentioned that when the mare had arrived at their farm in January she had lice in her mane, cracked feet, and you couldn’t even tell that she was pregnant. “She has a thing about food now.” Says Minky, “She will eat all day if we let her.”