BRIAN MAYFIELD-SMITH said he was likely to give up training racehorses from next month after yesterday conceding financial pressures have forced him to abandon his Flemington stables, reports the Sydney Morning Herald (www.smh.com.au)It says: Mayfield-Smith, 62, who will be remembered for ending the great Tommy Smith's run of 33 Sydney premierships to win the title in 1986, said yesterday he did not want to retire but could see no other option after a big drop in horse numbers at his stable in r

BRIAN MAYFIELD-SMITH said he was likely to give up training racehorses from next month after yesterday conceding financial pressures have forced him to abandon his Flemington stables, reports the Sydney Morning Herald (www.smh.com.au)

It says: Mayfield-Smith, 62, who will be remembered for ending the great Tommy Smith's run of 33 Sydney premierships to win the title in 1986, said yesterday he did not want to retire but could see no other option after a big drop in horse numbers at his stable in recent seasons.

''Essentially, it's simply the economics of the business,'' he said. ''If I keep going the way I am, I will keep losing money and really there doesn't seem any way to turn it around. To break even, I need 25 horses in work all the time and over the last few weeks, I've had about 17 and that equates to an operating loss of about $6000 a week. That's blowing away a lot of money.''

Mayfield-Smith retired from training once before - in the early 1990s - to live in Africa and help animal-conservation groups before again taking out a licence to train at Flemington a few years later. But he said that move was his choice.

The Queensland-born trainer, who began his career 38 years ago with one horse at the Cairns racecourse, said he was unlikely to take out a trainer's licence again.

Backed by Robert Sangster and Bob Lapointe's powerful Nebo Lodge stable, Mayfield-Smith had four more winners than Smith in 1985-86 to claim the title. He won it again over the next two seasons before Smith claimed the title back for the final time in 1988-89.