Time for racing to put quality before quantity with staff shortage

Regarding Bill Barber’s article on staff shortages (February 28), this has been with us for a while and the short-term (and short-sighted) solution has been to ‘import’ workers.

The staff shortages, I suggest, have been created not just by an increase in the racehorse population but also by a failure of racing to recruit and retain staff, largely through poor pay and working conditions.

Racing used to be a family affair, with sons and daughters replacing mothers and fathers in the workforce. Fewer parents now, I suggest, would advise racing as a career, or even a short-term job.