O’Brien to quit as ARC president

ARIMA Race Club president John O’Brien will not be standing for re-election at the club’s annual general meeting in May this year.

But O’Brien who steered racing out of a precarious state said he will continue on the management committee, “which is less burdensome.” He said, however, he will be duscussing his decision with members of the club before vacating the post. The decision according to O’Brien, has nothing to do with claims of undemocratic practices and favouritism by the ARC in giving approval to races in which his horses are entered.

O’Brien said according to the Rules of Racing, the Stewards are the final decision makers, and thinks their decision taken last week was fair. Owners and trainers voiced objection last week over the cancellation of a race on Saturday’s programme, which they felt should have been given approval.  They claimed three other events with a similar field of seven runners and another with six  were given the green light. This led to the Racehorse Trainers Association forwarding a letter of protest to the ARC, claiming the provisional programme including the events in contention,  was published over a month ago and trainers were well advanced with preparations of their charges for the races.

The trainers further said  it was heartbreaking for trainers who have expended so much time, energy, effort and money in the preparation of their animals for these events only to learn at the very last moment their horses would not be facing the starter because they were cancelled.  O’Brien felt the decisons to cancel the particular event was the right one. He felt  the preference given to the four races over the other was clear, “They simply don’t have regular races for the preferred bunches, unlike the $10,000 claimer, which is a fixture on every programme, “ he said.

Conflict of interest was also levelled against O’Brien who, apart from  wearing the president’s cap, is also an owner, breeder and the champion trainer. O’Brien said it may seem there is a conflict of interest “ but this is so because of the small size of the racing fraternity. But one will hope that those chosen to fill posts have the wherewithal and strength of character to separate the rules.”  Asked why the claiming races, instead of being cancelled were not added to the programme O’Brien said, “we decided on a maximum of 11 races. “Our records show that races programmed to start before noon takes less than 50  percent of betting to the later races, and from an ecnomical point it doesn’t make sense.”