An open letter to British trainers and racing staff from Nick Rust

I am using this letter to address all trainers, stable staff and other readers regarding a Racing Post article published on August 16, 'Rust: BHA ready to pounce on poor treatment of staff', to clarify the intention and context of my comments, as reported in this article.

I gave a short address at the National Association of Racing Staff AGM dinner, where I also answered a number of questions from the audience. In my responses, I attempted to answer openly, candidly and in the context of the questions raised. I wanted to avoid providing platitudes as answers to thoughtful questions at an event such as this.

The Racing Post were completely within their rights to report my comments as they have, but I felt that I should clarify them to ensure they were able to be understood in the context I intended, as they may have given readers the impression that they were policy statements or announcements on new policy.