What does it take to become a trainer?
/Article by Lissa Oliver
While each year we seem to lose many established trainers, often due to financial reasons, the training ranks continue to welcome fresh new faces—many of them particularly young. Those already struggling to make a living might question why, yet a certain amount of optimism is a prerequisite for embarking on any career within the thoroughbred industry.
Are the licencing bodies doing enough to equip new trainers for the reality of the career ahead? Is that even a question we should be asking, given that in most other industries an entrepreneur is free to start up a business as they please? What do our governing bodies consider to be the basic requirements necessary to apply for a trainer’s licence?
Deutscher Galopp manages to encapsulate exactly what is needed to consider applying for a trainer’s licence, pointing out the need for an excellent knowledge of racehorses and the world of horseracing; a capacity for management and personnel management; a mastery of professional relations, particularly with owners; a capacity for analysis in order to develop the performance of his or her horses; a technical and strategic sense; and a great geographical mobility.
Indeed, few Germany-based trainers would argue with the latter—smaller yards frequently needing to chase prize money in France due to the dominance at home of the larger stables. Interestingly, the traits of coolness and self-confidence are also listed—food for thought, perhaps.
In Germany, the licensing process doesn’t appear to be as bureaucratic as in Britain, for example, with no minimum age or experience criteria or detail of finances required. Deutscher Galopp has bundled its diverse training offerings and further education programme in its own academy—The Deutscher Galopp Academy—which aims to offer and conduct seminars and further education and training in horse racing for all interested groups, even racegoers.
The prerequisite for working as a professional trainer in Germany is completion of the Horse Management Masters examination in the horse racing training section at the Academy. The aim of the course is to acquire the necessary knowledge to run a training company independently, to masterfully carry out the work that occurs there, and to properly educate and equip the trainees for the profession of racehorse trainer. “That course can last a year or more, and not everybody is automatically qualified; the government decides who will be able to take part,” explains Rüdiger Schmanns, director of racing.
France also places emphasis on a robust pre-training course, and candidates must have at least two years’ experience in a racing yard. The Ecole des Courses Hippiques (AFASEC) is the benchmark training organisation for all horse racing professions, with five campuses throughout France as close as possible to the largest training centres. New France Galop Rules in relation to applying for the French trainer’s licence are due to come into effect later this year and are therefore included here.
The Trainer’s Course serves for both trotting and racing candidates, but the modules are specific to each specialty. The acquired knowledge is considered essential for starting out as a professional trainer in France. Of the maximum of 14 places, seven are reserved for racing applicants. The France Galop licensing department ultimately decides who qualifies for access to the 175-hour training, which takes place over a five-week period in May and June annually. The course fee is €2,275, and candidates must successfully complete a two-hour pre-selection examination on their horse racing knowledge at least six weeks prior to the course.
The bulk of the course is online, with 10 days (70 hours) of in-person classes, including two days of written and oral examinations. The six modules cover accounting and management; hygiene, horse health and equine welfare; social legislation; professional regulation; communication and business development; and human resources, management, awareness of labour law and preventive measures against moral and sexual harassment in the workplace. The candidate must obtain a mark of at least 10 out of 20 in each of these subjects.
Training Licence Requirements
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) relies on a very stringent criteria for those who may apply for a training licence, which reflects the similar training provided by AFASEC. Applicants are required to demonstrate competence and capability to train; access to appropriate training facilities; security of tenure for the premises from which they wish to train; a minimum of three horses in training; compliance with relevant health and safety responsibilities; ability to provide full details of their employment status; compliance with all relevant employment responsibilities; ability to appropriate Public Liability Insurance and, where appropriate, Employers' Liability Insurance; necessary financial resources available; and that they are otherwise in all the circumstances suitable to hold a licence and are deemed ‘fit and proper’.
This means applicants must have a minimum of five years’ experience in a training establishment, including at least two years in a responsible and senior position—preferably as an assistant trainer in a successful racing yard. Alternatively, a track record as a permit holder with at least three wins with a reasonable spread of horses, or having run a Point-to-Point yard for at least two years and having trained a minimum of 10 Point-to-Point/Hunter Chase wins with a reasonable spread of horses.
Applicants must have attained the Level 3 Diploma in Work Based Racecourse Care and Management (WBD) and successfully completed Modules 1, 2 and 3 of the training programme held at the British Racing School or the Northern Racing College. They must also attend a one-day training seminar for potential trainers at Weatherbys’ offices.
Furthermore, the yard and facilities must pass inspection. If the applicant is to train horses for the Flat, he or she will be expected to have access to gallops of six furlongs, including four furlongs straight, within hacking distance of the stables and facilities for schooling horses through starting stalls. National Hunt trainers must have access to gallops of six furlongs within hacking distance of the stables, at least one plain fence and one open ditch with wings, over which two horses are able to school alongside one another, and at least two flights of hurdles with wings, over which two horses can school alongside, as well as access to ‘nursery facilities’, such as poles.
The BHA takes into account the financial track record of the applicant and assesses the likely financial soundness of the proposed training business. A recognised financial reference must show the applicant to have available working capital or overdraft facilities of at least £40,000. A projected profit and loss account and a cash flow projection of the training business for the first 12 months must be provided.
To become a trainer in Ireland, applicants must be at least 21 years of age with a minimum of two years’ experience working in a racing yard. Alternatively, the holder of a rider’s licence with an acceptable number of rides for the same period, or a registered Point-to-Point handler with an acceptable number of runners, may also be eligible to apply.
Applicants to the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) Head of Licensing are required to successfully complete an assessment to establish prior knowledge of the industry in order to qualify for the Pre-Trainer’s Course. The assessment consists of practical, oral, and written elements. The Pre-Trainer’s Course is held twice a year, in spring and autumn, over a three-week period and delivered via a blended approach of sessions online and in-person.
Following successful completion, a stable inspection is then carried out by the IHRB on the proposed training establishment. The stable inspection report and application, together with all relevant documentation, is assessed by the Licensing Committee, who then arranges an interview with the candidate. The Licensing Committee ultimately decides whether a licence is granted. The successful completion of the assessments and Pre-Trainers’ Course does not guarantee the issuing of a licence.
If we look at the smaller racing nations, the reliance on courses for trainers remains much the same. In the Czech Republic, for example, an applicant has to successfully graduate from the specialised course for trainers organised by the Czech Jockey Club. He or she must also have graduated at an apprentice training centre for horse breeding, horse racing or equestrian sport; have a school-leaving certificate from secondary school and at least 10 years’ experience in a racing yard; graduated from agricultural university or veterinary university and have at least two years’ experience in a racing yard; or graduated from another type of university and have at least five years’ experience. The Trainer’s Course is organised by the Czech Jockey Club every few years when enough requests from interested people warrant it. Karin Luftmanová tells us that it is also quite common to attend a course in Slovakia, and vice versa.
Interestingly, in Portugal, where the LPTG Professional License Commission is the only entity for issuing a trainer’s licence, applicants must be over 25 years of age and express a wish to try to make the training of racehorses “a permanent and paid activity”. They begin with an obligatory internship, to be completed successfully, with a minimum duration of six months with a foreign trainer, or 12 months with a national trainer. The League's Professional License Commission is made up of four members of the Board, designated by the racing director of the Technical Commission (CT), who has the ultimate say in granting the licence.
The work and knowledge involved in gaining a trainer’s licence is worth noting. In the general sphere of horse racing, the skills and qualifications of a trainer are not widely known or publicised. The public still tends to think in terms of retiring trainers simply handing over the reins to someone with experience, without considering exactly what that experience entails.
In contrast, media coverage of jockey schools and stable staff apprenticeships are a staple, with those same opportunities commonly going out to schools to encourage school-leavers to embark on a racing career. In the wider world, we think nothing of having to go through various levels of higher education, and the Trainers’ Courses available throughout Europe could be viewed as akin to postgraduate degrees. Should our governing bodies be presenting the professional trainer’s pathway to schools and universities?
Certainly, as the racing world focuses on social licence and presenting itself in a fit way to a growing urban public, no longer in touch with agricultural roots and working animals, more should be made of the strict requirements to train. More to the point, trainers deserve fitting credit for their accomplishment in receiving and retaining their trainer’s licence. It is, indeed, a postgraduate degree to be proud of.
