As the New Zealand government welcomes a return to racing tomorrow, leading trainer Stephen Marsh will welcome approximately 50 horses back to his Cambridge stable as lockdowns are stepped down from stage four to stage three.
However with question marks still surrounding prize money, Marsh has conceded he may be forced to cross the Tasman to Australia in search of better returns.
“I am probably more looking forward to seeing what the stake money is like to see if it is worth training here,” Marsh said.
“If the stake money drops, you have got to consider Australia, because if we don’t, all of our owners will be and we could lose the lot.
“I know Australia’s (prize money) has dropped a little bit, but we can’t afford to drop.
“I am very interested to see the new stake money and I am very worried about it.”
Fortunately for Marsh, he owns a farm at the Cambridge premises which has allowed him to continue ticking over his horses.
“We will have 50 come back in tomorrow,” Stephen Marsh said.
“A lot of them are going to be babies coming in for their first prep, a few of the winter team, and some we will just bring up slowly.
“There won’t be a lot to race early doors, but just a few yearlings to get them through the system.
“We bought a farm with Go Racing and we have a treadmill there.
“We have had half a dozen within the last 10 days on the treadmill, just to bring them up quietly, the ones we are going to want to race early July”, the New Zealand trainer added.
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