A trainer who grossed $350,000 Canadian Dollars ($250k USD) in 2025 is closing up shop in part because "the financials of the game make it impossible to make money".
Yet another sign that the game is broken.
Came across Robert on his sortie on a much smaller show but better people “Americas untold stories” . I could be wrong but Barnes is either being paid by Foreigners to his propaganda , which ones I haven’t worked out. Or , he’s had a sizeable investment in the outcome of an election . Not sure but someone or something is pulling his strings. Pure opportunism!
Another Trainer Closes Up Shop
John Kimmel, who I've known for decades, and engaged in fruitful business with, is the latest trainer to find the combination of the "super trainer" phenomenon, spiraling costs, and labor laws to be unworkable.
An excerpt from the linked article in TDN:
“The super-trainer thing has gotten to the point where if you're not on the front pages of every big racing day, it seems like people have a very short memory about what you have accomplished,” Kimmel said. “A lot of the new money that's come into this game may not even know my track record or my past history. The fact is that there is a new business model. With this business model, it is extremely difficult to make ends meet. If you're not making significant money through purses or buying and selling horses, there's no way that you can offset the cost of doing business, particularly in New York. It might be better in some states, like Kentucky, where businesses seems to be doing much better than they are in New York. Here, maintaining a stable and dealing with the labor laws and the costs of the labor to run things the way I like to do it, it just became a very inequitable formula.
“The labor costs, the fee costs, the costs of doing business, just outweigh what you can charge on a day rate. It's absolutely crazy. You could run literally millions of dollars through your training accounts. And at the end of the day, you look at your profit/loss and you're not making any money on your day rate. It's just a losing proposition. That's a reality that most trainers face. I'm sure you've heard the same thing from many trainers.”
@MCYeeehaaa@CheltenhamRaces Surely you realise that if everything goes well and he pulls off the story of the ages and wins the Melbourne Cup. It’s up there with some of the greatest moments in racing.
@craigpicko@RayThomas_1@TomMagnier@RandSRacing It’s Hypothetical geez lol. Wootton Bassett served 206 mares alone in Ireland 25 season. Let alone what he done in Aus season in 24 . They hammer them with numbers, Fastnet served 391 for the year for them once.
Boom! A new winner for PRAGUE 💥 3YO Drahomira (ex Chemainus) made light work of R3 at Lismore, bolting in to break her maiden. She was an astute @inglis_sales HTBA Yearling Sale buy for her trainer @dannyb3685 from @Davali_Tbs.
Big congrats to all involved!
#KiaOraStallions
@chovy_moore@craigbrogden Just because hkjc have built Congua track doesn’t mean the government is legalising gambling. Many tracks over the years have been built in hope of this happening. President Xi is cracking down lately. I can’t see them legalising gambling anytime soon.