Wanting apprentices to keep more of their own money is not treachery

The response to last week's call for apprentices to get a better financial deal from their relationship with trainers drew a predictable response.

Flat trainers expressed their dismay and threatened to stop hiring embryonic young jockeys. Apprentices supported the views expressed in the column, although they did so in private, for to have done so in public would have done little to enhance their career prospects.

As a brief reminder, the Professional Jockeys Association is angered by the failure of too many Flat trainers to honour a formal agreement with the National Trainers Federation and BHA to pay expenses to the apprentices whose licences they hold.