KUALA LUMPUR,  9 January 2006

In a press release issued by the Malayan Racing Association (MRA) office in Kuala Lumpur today, the MRA stated that the criteria for deciding the trainers' champion is based on wins for MRA scheduled races which excluded "Home Based" races.

Accompanying the statement was the final standings for the 2005 season which show Lee with 49 winners and van Breukelen with 48 winners.

On Dec 27, 2005, the MRA issued a similar release which stated that the criteria for deciding the jockeys' table is based on wins for all races, including "Home Based" races. It did not mention the trainers' position.

Based on that, everyone was led to believe that the statistics for the trainers in 2005 include "Home Based" races as well.

For many years, "Home Based" races were excluded in the season's statistics.

The question now everyone is asking is when did the MRA make the decision to include "Home Based" races for jockeys and retain the exclusion for trainers?

And why make known the jockeys' position in the last week of the season ? And why did it not mention the trainers' position in the Dec 27, 2005, press release and wait until the season is over to do so?

Clearly, such a major change in policy must be communicated to the media and everyone concerned much sooner. The MRA Malaysian office has failed badly in this regard.