Business of Sport: Over 20 million bet on-course; 200,000-plus punters in attendance; suits rubbing shoulders with the good, the bad and the ugly of Irish politics; 51 sponsored races to keep the punters busy; 20 million added to the local economy; 20 times more champagne being guzzled on Ladies' Day; welcome to the feel-good world the Galway Races have become.

In the same week as Ballybrit, the board of Horse Racing Ireland at its meeting on Tuesday considered the minimum terms and conditions of employment for Irish stable staff. The agreement under consideration by the Irish Racehorse Trainers' Association (IRTA) & the Irish Stable Staff Association (ISA) covers such areas as minimum pay-rates, hours, pensions and grievance procedures.

The agreement is vital to the future of Irish racing, for as Brian Kavanagh, chief executive of HRI, said during the week, it recognised that the industry's success depended on maintaining a highly skilled, flexible and well-motivated labour force, and his association were thus encouraging best practice in relation to conditions of employment within the industry.

Just last year the ISA moved to tackle the lack of young people becoming stable staff, and the sector's inability to retain qualified staff. The association submitted a six-page working document to the IRTA that included proposals on pay and conditions, as well as the development of proper career structures. They were seeking a code of practice for employer-employee disputes, work contracts, sackings, working conditions, time off and the introduction of an insurance and accident scheme.

The Irish racing industry is beginning to acknowledge the need for proper structures and conditions for stable staff, a belated recognition that they are the backbone and the unsung heroes of a multi-millionaire industry.

This acknowledgment is not confined to Ireland, with a recent report in Britain damning of employers and highlighting numerous cases of abuse and neglect suffered by stable staff across the water. In July 2003, the British Horseracing Board established a commission under Lord Donoughue "to investigate the recruitment, training, employment and career development of stable and stud staff and to make recommendations for the future".

Eleven months later and Lord Donoughue's report provided an indictment of the conditions for stable staff and cited the key issues affecting their work - tallying with the plight of their Irish counterparts: hours worked, pay, recognition, accommodation, work environment, training and promotion opportunities.

"How would you like to be called a c**t all day?" was one respondent's reaction to questions about his working life.

The recommendations included:

- A new recruitment brand and marketing campaign;

- The need to promote the concept of a career rather than a job;

- The paying system should be reviewed, simplified and improved;

- The supply of affordable accommodation should be improved;

- Alternative patterns of working that were flexible and adaptable should be sought;

- Stable staff should be treated with respect and dignity at all times.

That such basic recommendations should have to be made might be a surprise to many outside the sector, but not to Irish stable staff. But there is also a fear that the extra costs involved for employers will be used by trainers as an excuse to lower expectations.

The National Trainers' Federation in Britain thus noted recently, "Trainers are trying to run businesses in a highly competitive market where all costs come under intense scrutiny in order to attract and retain owners. Most trainers struggle to make a profit, and the imposition of significant additional costs will inevitably be passed straight on to owners. The consequences of this are a matter for the whole industry to consider."

But in Ireland, it seems, the prevailing attitude is positive and a formal agreement is seemingly imminent.

The expected improvements in the lot of stable staff in Britain were partly due to the Racing Post's campaign called "A Fair Deal For Stable Staff". The BHB's acknowledgement of an "urgent problem" has been cited as the campaign's biggest triumph so far. And while in Britain they are still fighting for legal recognition, the Irish situation sees just the formal agreement to be ratified by all concerned bodies.

Meanwhile, 1.4 million was invested at Galway racecourse in the last year; attendance records are being broken; on-course betting is up. It is time stable staff got their fair cut of the action.

bizofsport@eircom.net

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ListentoLombardi - "Once you agree upon the price you and your family must pay for success, it enables you to ignore the minor hurts, the opponent's pressure, and the temporary failures."