Trainer Andrew Donnelly and his then partner, jockey Leeann McCoy were photographed at the Justracing fundraiser on 5/10/10 at Kedron Wavell Services Club in Brisbane. If the industry had half a brain - a full complement of brain would not be a prerequisite - we should put aside a small amount like my suggested 0.10 of one percent of TAB turnover, for the industry to help out those in need, rather than some injured people getting hundreds of thousands of dollars - and others a pittance, which is so discriminatory that it is a disgrace.

Following on from yesterday’s Justracing website article, I’ve proposed for many years that if a minute amount like say just 0.10 of one percent of TAB turnover around Australia was set aside for traumatic events that beset the lives of licensees - who are at the end of the day the very ones providing the product - the average person would be amazed at just how quickly that pool of money that was put aside for a rainy day would grow, given that modern day TABs now operate seven days a week. Naturally what I've written over the years in respect of this ongoing problem has fallen on deaf ears, as put simply, it's easier for all racing officialdom to just look the other way and do nothing - pretending that no problem even exists in the first place.

Listed below are the approximate holds for each thoroughbred race run last Saturday at the venues of Eagle Farm (Brisbane), Rosehill (Sydney), Flemington (Melbourne) and Morphettville (Adelaide). Bear in mind 1) that this was a non-Carnival race day in all four States, 2) all venues except Flemington (dead 4) were run on a track rated as “slow”, which supposedly stifles betting and 3) these holds do not take into account any fixed odds pool from the 33 races whose hold is disclosed.

Noteworthy also is the fact that whilst these were the highest four hold race meetings on the day, Tattsbet also bet on a further 28 (in words that’s twenty eight) meetings on the day last Saturday, as apart from the four aforesaid thoroughbred meetings they also bet on thoroughbred meetings at Gold Coast, Kembla Grange, Gundagai, Belmont, Carnarvon, Toowoomba, Darwin, Townsville, Ripon, Ruakaka, Kenilworth, Newmarket, Ascot, Pukekura, Turffontein and Curragh.

Tattsbet last Saturday bet on six harness meetings on the day and these were run at Albion Park, Menangle, Shepparton, Young, Globe Derby and Gloucester Park.

Additionally, Tattsbet fielded on six greyhound meetings on the day and these were from Wentworth Park, The Meadows, Richmond, Traralgon, The Gardens and Cannington.

Here are the approximate holds on each race at the four venues of Eagle Farm, Rosehill, Flemington and Morphettville. By “approximate” I didn’t have time to do each race to the exact dollar hold figure, but for the purpose of explaining how my proposal would work - being within say a thousand dollars of each race hold would be close enough for the general tenor of the article. In each case the exotics like Extra Double, Quadrella, Treble and Daily Double are included in the first leg race figures.

So cumulatively between Eagle Farm, Rosehill, Flemington and Morphettville, from the above figures, Tattsbet last Saturday (21/7/12) held $11,930,000 and don’t forget on top of that figure 1) there are 24 smaller race meetings to add to that total hold, as well as 2) the fixed odds hold on each of the 33 races. Please note that about $250,000 of that hold figure from those four capital cities of $11,930,000 was carried forward jackpot money ($125,000 on each of the Brisbane and Flemington meeting's) - but again that is basically irrelevant to the general tenor of the article.

As stated in the Justracing article yesterday, on a hold of say only just 12 million dollars, that 0.10 of one percent equates to an amount of $12,000. Now multiply that $12,000 x 52 Saturdays a year and suddenly that figure becomes $624,000. And don’t forget through all that, that there are 313 additional days in a calendar year apart from the 52 Saturdays, of which the TABs are open for 311 of those 313, as they are closed on Christmas Day and Good Friday. Worth noting also is the fact that Tattsbet is a small TAB, in terms of holds size, compared to the much larger TABs whose head office is domiciled in either Sydney or Melbourne.

The TAB hierarchy aren’t historically renowned for their ingenuity, or their ability to think outside the square - to instigate something like I propose, so if the TAB heirarchy couldn't get their head around my proposal, then an additional taxation element of 0.10 of one percent could be imposed on the TAB pools via the government, which would specifically go into a “distressed licensees pool”. That “distressed licensees pool” would have virtually no affect on dividends to punters, yet implementation of that additional taxation strategy on all TAB bets would achieve the exact same overall result.

My aforesaid proposal is merely a suggestion - and so there would be numerous derivatives to my proposal. I mean a case could be mounted to say that my suggested 0.10 of one percent of the total TAB pools being withheld by TABs and/or government, would grow into an even far larger pool of money than is required to service the industry's trainer and jockey welfare needs, so it could be tweaked to  become whatever percentage less than 0.10 of one per cent that people more learned than myself in such matters came up with. But as every 1000-kilometre journey along the path of life starts with a single footstep, if the TABs and/or government, and/or a racing control body would actually take the first "single footstep" - that would be a start. If neither of those two entities came to the party, there would be nothing wrong with the governing body of racing in each State instigating my proposal via redirecting a very small percentage of the massive financial handout that they receive from TAB turnover towards emergency medical and financial assistance to licensees in a time of need. As alluded to yesterday in the associated story to this one, an appointed Board of three of four people could then oversee such payouts.

Interestingly derivatives of what I suggested here many years ago are nowadays happening around the racing industry all the time. In fact earlier this year, Racing New South Wales CEO Peter V'landys advised subsequent to the High Court decision to uphold New South Wales race fields legislation - that there will be forthwith a component of that financial windfall being paid directly towards strappers - the lowest paid people from within the racing industry. If someone would have suggested at any point in the last 100-odd years of racing in this country that strappers would get paid a percentage of overall prizemoney, albeit small, to boost their income, they'd have been publicly humiliated by being strung up to a pole in the local mall and having rotten fruit thrown at them. Yet today most would agree that V'landys decision suddenly adds a nice, sensible and long overdue positive twist to the racing industry.

So through using a little bit of the grey matter that we humanoids are all born with, the racing industry could in fact look after its own - instead of all this ridiculous running chook raffles rot, or launching a fund raiser within a few days every time some licensee meets with an unfortunate accident - in an industry where anyone with half a brain realizes the possibility of death or permanent disability is only a single heartbeat away.