Updated ,first published
Colourful racing identity John Kanga has joined a push for later training hours on the eve of Melbourne Cup week, saying it was time to improve working conditions for stable staff.
The former Melbourne Racing Club chairman, who obtained a Racing Victoria stable hand licence earlier this year, said the long-held tradition of 4am starts and split shifts needed an industry-wide review.
Kanga has joined Australian Trainers’ Association president Troy Corstens in calling for a better work-life balance for strappers, track riders and trainers now that stables were juggling the extra demands of twilight and night meetings.
“I’ve never been a great believer in doing something simply because we’ve always done it that way,” Kanga told The Age.
“We quite rightly spend an enormous amount of time talking about the welfare of our horses. Surely, the welfare of the people looking after those horses deserves just as much attention.”
Kanga, who controversially resigned from the MRC board on the eve of last year’s Caulfield Cup carnival, no longer holds an official position in the racing industry.
But he said he obtained a stable-hand licence through Racing Victoria’s Stable Start program to gain a broader understanding of the growing demands on trainers and their staff.
He regularly spends time visiting Flemington stables.
“Some of the best ideas in racing don’t come from the boardroom. They come from the people doing the work,” he said.
When asked if he intended to return to the sport in an official capacity, such as nominating for the upcoming Victoria Racing Club board elections, Kanga said, “I’ve never needed a title to contribute to racing, and I’m not about to start now.”
The VRC agreed to a later starting time at Flemington in July, delaying the course opening from 4am to 4.30am. A 5am start will be trialled after the spring carnival.
But Corstens, a second-generation trainer based at Flemington, has been pushing for a 6am start – a prospect that would clash with working hours for track-management staff.
“Ideally, if we started at six, we’d need a closing time of 10am, and the VRC would have to work with their track staff and renegotiate their EBA [enterprise bargaining agreement],” Corstens said.
“I’ve been pushing for a long time, and the main reason that I’m doing that is because I think it will attract a hell of a lot more people to the game [for work].”
Training centres have opened before dawn for more than a century.
The reasons were varied – trainers had second jobs, they wanted first access to grass tracks, they liked to work their horses in secret under the cover of darkness, they had to work their gallopers before going to the races, and curators needed access to the racecourse.
There are still trainers who don’t want to break with the tradition.
“Everyone’s entitled to the way they want to do it, but I just think that it’d open things right up if we had a look at it and did have a change,” Corstens said.
“I think sleep is the most important factor in anybody’s life. And if you’re starting at 3 o’clock in the morning, these kids can’t have a life.
“They are having to go to bed at seven and 8 o’clock at night, they can’t do anything.
“My family’s used to me going to bed at 8 o’clock every night. Would I like to spend more time with them? Of course, I would, but you know, a lot of the time I’m buggered, and I need to hit the hay.”
Corstens also called for government assistance to streamline the visa process for international track riders to help service the Victorian industry. He said regional training centres and the thoroughbred breeding industry found it difficult to attract suitable staff at different times of the year.
“I think the process could be simpler, a lot simpler than it is,” he said.
“Andrew Hore-Lacy [Thoroughbred Breeders Association CEO] has been working very hard in the background, trying to improve the situation for us all.”
Kanga, who races horses with Danny O’Brien and Dom Sutton, said stable staff were the backbone of the racing industry.
“Without them, there are no horses prepared, no races and no industry,” he said.
“This isn’t about making racing easier. It’s about making racing sustainable, both for the people who work in it and the generations who will follow us.”
Kanga was MRC chairman for 12 months, from October 2024 until October 2025, before resigning after questions from The Age.
In that time, his committee was credited with stoping the sale of Sandown Racecourse for housing development, opening up the inside track at Caulfield for jump outs and offering cheaper food and drink.
Fit for a King: Star on the brink of a Cup start after Bendigo win
Rachel King is known for her timing, and the Sydney-based jockey delivered the perfect ride at the perfect moment on Wednesday to all but book a last-minute slot in next week’s Melbourne Cup.
King’s winning steer on So You Are was enough to win the group 3 Bendigo Cup over 2400 metres and is expected to attract a sizeable enough weight penalty that would push the Bjorn Baker-trained gelding into the starting field for the race that stops the nation.
In doing so, she dashed the hopes of several other contenders.
Soulcombe, owned by several premiership-winning Richmond Tigers including Tom Lynch, needed to finish in the top three but blew his chances at the start. He flopped out of the gates and finished ninth.
Danny O’Brien’s Litzdeel fell agonisingly short again, running home strongly for third, while Gai Waterhouse’s The Euphrates and Ciaron Maher’s Kings Valley could not sustain a solid tempo in front.
If Racing Victoria handicapper David Hegan lumps So You Are with an extra 1.5-kilogram penalty on Thursday, it will be enough to push it up the Melbourne Cup order. That is not unreasonable.
It would then shuffle import Hopewell Rock back into 25th place and one spot outside the field.
Only Racing Victoria’s strict safety protocols, which include scans of all Melbourne Cup runners this week, could then change the make-up of Tuesday’s Cup field.
“He’s done everything he can, the horse – he deserved to be there and hopefully that’s enough to get him in,” Baker’s racing manager Luke Hilton said.
So You Are has won his past three races on the trot – the Tatts Cup (2400m) at Randwick in September, followed by victories in the group 3 Colin Stephen Quality (2400m) at Rosehill and the group 3 St Leger (2600m) at Randwick.
“We thought he may get in after winning the St Leger, but he needed a few more points,” Hilton said.
“We had a look at the Moonee Valley Cup and Bjorn and [owner] Mr Ramsey put their heads together and came up with this plan today, and it’s come off. Let’s hope it’s enough.
“Rach and Bjorn have done a lot of work with him. His form was a little bit questionable Melbourne way, that was probably the only glitch that we thought he might have, but he really handled it well today.”
It has been a fruitful spring for King, who became the first female jockey to win the Caulfield Guineas on Warwoven earlier this month.
“He had a couple of runs in Melbourne and probably not run up to standard before, so it was good to see him get it done the other way around,” King said.
“He’s just a horse in really good form. He’s tough, he puts himself on speed, he makes life easy, and he doesn’t want to let one get past him.”
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