Big fish in small pond…valuable or detrimental?

IN NOVEMBER 2018 I wrote an article relating to Ben Yole’s dominating numbers at Tasmanian race meetings.

Having observed the fields for the previous six months a pattern emerged in the amount of runners the leading trainer was taking to the track.

With a seemingly endless supply of horses in his stable, Yole frequently had numerous starters in each race, which raised the question …Is having a big fish in a small pond valuable or detrimental to the local industry?

During November Yole’s team made up a minimum of 33 per cent of starters at a meeting.

Yole’s break down included 34 representatives of 73 starters on a card – 45.5 per cent of the runners.

Yole’s numbers for the other meetings that month were 28 of 67 – 41.8 per cent; 28 of 75 – 37.3 per cent; 30 of 90 – 33.3 per cent and 25 of 70 – 35.7 per cent.

On the day the article was published Yole harnessed 37 of the 64 standardbreds engaged in Burnie at a rate of 57.8 per cent!

Well, 17 months later and nothing has changed, with some stating the situation is worse when you look at Sunday night’s Launceston program.

With 48 of the 104 entrants coming from the Yole camp, the stable equates to 46.1 per cent of the meeting.

While that doesn’t seem all that different from November 2018, the last race on the card is completed with 11 Yole horses, with observers claiming it is little more than paid fast work.

Yole offered some perspective on the situation.

“What needs to be understood is they’ve all got different owners who want to win a race,” Yole said. “I can joke about how I will at least win one race on the night, but this is not about the stable, it is about the owners.

“They are supporting the industry in Tasmania, and like everyone else, hope to enjoy the thrill of winning races.”

Another view is without Yole the meetings would fail to attract the required amount of starters and be cancelled.

If that is the case and Yole is ‘propping up’ the card you could say the big fish is good for the pond, but it poses another problem.

Is Tasmania in such a crisis that there are not enough horses to run regular meetings?

Another view is Yole’s nominations could be balloting smaller trainers, meaning the big fish if bad for the pond!

As such, his team is drying up the sustenance – being stake money – required by the little fish to survive.

One administrator revealed Yole is in fact ensuring the meetings go ahead as scheduled and keeping the races afloat with his large stable.

But is that a sign Tasmania is suffering from a catastrophic shortage of horse and would fold if Yole decided to quit the industry or would horses still arrive on the Apple Isle and be spread among various trainers?