More than meets the eye with stampede of stable transfers
When a horse transfers from one stable to another, it can sometimes prove embarrassing for the former trainer
As far as a metaphorical kick in the guts goes for a horse trainer, they don’t come much more painful than a departed stable transfer improving out of sight for a new handler. When a horse “improves” for a new yard, the rather simplistic public perception has the new trainer down as “better” – or at the very least luckier – than the last, and reputations are adjusted accordingly.
In the close quarters of Sha Tin, where the same horses race against each other week-in and week-out, are stabled in the same buildings and trained on exactly the same tracks, it’s easy to fall into making a like-for-like comparison between two trainers on each end of a transfer.