Finland’s most diligent trotting instructor is Jarmo Saarela, who raced 279 days last year – and the pace is clearly calmer than in the harshest years.
- Professional instructors tour the races all year round.
- At most, instructors have had well over 300 days of treatment a year.
- While the winnings can be large, few strike money as a trotter.
When talking about the work of a trotting instructor, the discussion may often revolve around big wins and star moments, but in everyday life, the work of a trotting instructor is a hard twist.
Trotting is held in Finland on all other days of the year except Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and the holidays of the most used trotting instructors are few.
According to data produced at the request of Hippos Finland’s Iltalehti, the director who raced the most in competition last year, measured Jarmo Saarela. Saarela, 56, who lives in Hämeenkoski, raced last year on 279 days, when the next drivers in the race day statistics Santtu Raitala and Hannu Torvinen raced for 271 days.
Saarela’s number one position as the most contracting director is not a surprise, as he is known specifically as a traveler on racetracks.
Although Saarela lives in Hämeenkoski near Lahti, she made her real rise in the pharmaceutical market fifteen years ago when she started touring Northern Finland as a loan manager.
As Saarela gained a name and visibility on the northern lines, the market gradually improved in the south as well, and the days of racing are accumulating at a rapid pace.
– Somehow I’m used to leaving, even though I’ve reduced my detour in recent years, Saarela describes.
Saarela’s story is true, as she has had fewer race days in 2013, with the exception of the corona-cut trotting season 2020. Saarela toured the most in 2015, when there were a whopping 317 trotting days.
With her hard work, Saarela has established her position behind the sharpest edge in the Finnish loan manager market. Last year, number one in the competition day statistics was fifth in the instructors’ starting volume statistics, eleventh in the money statistics and sixteenth in the winning statistics.
The rides are still often so-called ordinary horses, but Jarmo Saarela emphasizes that the level of the horses he drives has clearly increased over the years.
– The horses reported to me are much more competitive today than in previous years. The drives weren’t bad even then, they just didn’t make it, he describes with a laugh.
The top horse winged the record season
Last season was clearly the best in Jarmo Saarela’s career in terms of money spent. As a director, he drove just over 680,000 euros, compared to the previous one-season record of more than 530,000 for 2019.
Last season, Saarela also drove the biggest single prizes of her career, a second place in Derby worth € 60,000 as the director of the top mare An-Dorra, and a win of € 42,000 in the Wild Man Checkers.
In total, Saarela drove ten starts in An-Dorra, of which the mare earned a total of 166,100 euros.
The amount earned by An-Dorra driven by Saarela is almost exactly the same as Saarela’s record result for one season improved.
– An-Dorra had a big impact on last year when there were bigger prizes at once. In regular departures, it takes a long time to accumulate such winnings.
Bench money and percentages on top
The biggest victory in Saarela’s career came last autumn from the Wild Man’s Oak Competition, which Saarela won with An-Dorora coached by Reino Palomäki. The first prize was 42,000 euros. Reeta Heino / Finnish Hippos
The wage instructor’s salary consists of two parts. Regardless of the end result, drivers will charge a so-called bench money for each driving task, which is usually 20 euros per start.
In addition, instructors charge a commission on the prize money they run. Depending on the coach’s license rating, the instructor’s share is usually 15, 10, or 5 percent of the prize money.
Normally, the share billed by the director is estimated to be about 7-8 percent of the profit.
– That’s the class it is. In the past, the percentage was a bit higher when I drove more amateur coach horses, but today almost everyone seems to have some kind of professional license, Saarela says.
If Saarela’s average billing is estimated at 7.5 per cent of the prize money and a benchmark of € 20 per start, last year’s total profit from loan management was just over € 75,000.
Divided into Saarela’s 279 race days last year, the average billing is about 270 euros per day. While the year can also accommodate lucrative top performances, median billing is significantly below average billing.
– Bread is in the world in small pieces, the director says.
Saarela says that the year can accommodate unprofitable trips, but much less than in previous years.
– After all, you have to get out of the travel money to bother leaving. Departure is affected by both the number of horses reported and their number. In the past, he made a lot of trips that he knew in advance that there would be no expenses, but nowadays he still tries to avoid them.
Only 100,000 kilometers a year
Trotting instructors compete all over Finland, and driving a car keeps pace with a professional driver. It is the practice of the profession that the majority of income is raised in the form of tax-free mileage allowances and daily allowances.
– Now I drive about 100,000 kilometers a year. Driving has decreased a lot when I have reduced my turning around in the north, Saarela says.
He is known as an avid motorist, but driving around is not always a treat.
– A couple of times I have been in a traffic accident where a bad luck could have left the spirit, but fortunately they have survived. After all, autumn is always the worst when it gets dark and cold.
Spouse of Saarela Mira Lehto is a coaching coach, so there is plenty to do at home, even if the host does not go to the raves. However, the blood pulls around.
– If you are home for a couple of days, then on the third day you have to go somewhere. If not for the raves, then somewhere else, Saarela laughs.