Racing tackles staff shortages
13 April 2012
New efforts are being made to solve an acute staffing crisis in racing stables.
One in every eight jobs at racing yards is vacant because there are fewer 16 to 18-year-olds in Britain and stable hours are perceived as unsocial.
Young people are also getting heavier and the Government is keen for that age group to continue in education.
The problem led the National Trainers' Federation to call in the International Exchange Program, from the small Rutland village of Belton.
The company has, in its first nine months on the project, filled more than 100 of the 650 gaps with staff from outside the European Union - all of them competent horse men and women in their own countries.
