What rot, the public doesn't get a free lunch, and they get treated with disdain all the time !

This is worth a read

Brad Waters is a pretty reasonable type of guy I think and would have his story pretty straight.

I am using the article as an accurate guide to what truly happened.

On the face of it…it’s a pretty weird scenario….’trainer scratches over a dispute over sandwiches’

The article gives good background tho….and offers up a situation where a bloke stood up against a race club ‘bully’

I know the bloke .. Bryce …pretty well.

He isnt everyones cuppa tea..thats for sure… some would say he is as mad as a cut snake……but for the decade or more I have known him well….i would say he is a straight down the line bloke.

I mean he is the type of bloke who would do anything to help you if you broke down or got stuck….no worries about that.

I have to say…..i quite like the bloke….me and him always have a few jokes…..

As is said …he isnt everyones cuppa tea …but he is a good guy imo.

He calls everyone ‘shagger’ ..or ‘shaggy’ …..

So I swing it back…and that’s my name for him …..’Shagger’

And he is a bloke who stands by his convictions…he will not bend to just be palatable to ‘powers that be’….and I love that quality in a person.

He wont run with the wolves and hunt with the hounds……straight as a dye………..some would say he takes it a bit far sometimes and that’s maybe a fair call……but he is a good intentioned bloke.

But mad with it ..

I have noticed the ‘hand wringers’ around the traps all being disparaging towards him for sticking up ..

I am sure most of them don’t know the true story…..[assuming that article is true..and I believe it is]

I say good on him …and will tell him myself when I see him..

By the article his owner fully supported him ..i believe he was the main owner anyway in each horse that was scratched.

Bryce didn’t get out of bed at 4.30am …load up his truck with horses and drive all the way to Pakenham to scratch his horses…….

I am betting the story is 110% correct……

There are a lot of fantastic race club officials….and race club raceday staff who go out of their way to accommodate people….especially trainers.

Indeed ..i personally have some good friends who do those very jobs…….and you cant speak highly enough of them…you look forward to catching up with them at the races..

The other side of the coin is that there are those who are just arrogant flogs who think ‘they are the industry’ and for that day…it’s a ‘power trip’ for them.

They are the minority….but they are everywhere and they can ruin a raceday experience for many people…

I must say…I am looking forward to running into Shagger at a meeting soon [not that we have much by way of runners] and getting the guts of it

He is his own man….you have to admire him for that at least

He isnt everyones cuppa tea…..but he is mine..

I take my hat off to him for sticking to his guns and not rolling over…..

At least he can go to sleep at night knowing he was straight down the line and true to himself…….thats a good quality to have I reckon.

The raceday wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the owner/trainer/punter collective….all equally as important and inter reliant.That gets lost on these over zealous admin types……repeatedly

It will be interesting to see how this plays out…if the article is accurate as I expect it is…….i would be disgusted if the trainer was ‘fined’ and had to pay any more than a standard late scratch fee….

A furious Bryce Stanaway says he scratched his horses from Sunday’s Pakenham meeting in protest against disrespectful treatment from the club’s chief executive.

A row erupted on Sunday when Stanaway withdrew three horses after an incident that started when he was unable to get a sandwich in the course’s owners and trainers’ lounge.

Stanaway appeared on RSN to put forward his side of the story on Monday morning, declaring it was the attitude of the Pakenham Racing Club’s chief executive Michael Hodge that prompted him to scratch his remaining runners.

"I went into the trainers’ room, not the winner’s room, and was expecting to have a coffee and a sandwich and a bit of relaxation before I had to go and saddle the next three (runners),” he said.

"There’s a poor woman there bringing out one plate of sandwiches to about 50 people and it was like vultures, all of the sandwiches were gone.

"I went politely, which is quite a shock for me, I’m actually starting to mellow out. I went and saw the CEO and I said, ‘for a trainer, there’s nothing left up there’ and all this.

"I’ve got witnesses, he went off his head at me and said, ‘scratch your horses and go home’. He actually told me to scratch my horses and go home.

"The final straw was the attitude of the CEO and the way he treated me. He did it in front of (jockey) Brian Higgins, a girl that works for me and two of my owners and he’s the one that asked me to scratch my horses and go home.”

Stanaway said the issue highlighted the difference between the treatment at racecourses of trainers and jockeys, who he said, "are fed like kings” despite having a lighter workload than the smaller trainers.

The Torquay-based trainer said he would do the same thing if he was treated the same way as he said he was at Pakenham on Sunday.

"I’d do it again. These clubs have got to show a little bit more respect for the people that work in the game,” Stanaway said.

Stanaway said the problem did not extend to all clubs with the likes of the Casterton, Bendigo and Sale clubs the best in Victoria for the treatment of trainers.