TRACKWORK rider Diana Sutherland gets to the racecourse at 4am every day to ride and train horses, then she goes to her full-time job.

"It would be very difficult to survive in a city like Sydney on the money I get from trackwork alone," said Ms Sutherland, who also works at the Equestrian Federation of Australia. She says she is "not much fun after 7 o'clock at night".

"If I only had the training job I don't think I would have much of a lifestyle. There are a lot of people in this industry who do not have a second job and they really struggle."

Ms Sutherland works for trainer Tim Martin, who believes corporate bookmakers should be putting some money back into NSW racing. "It's unbelievable. The bookmakers are making millions of dollars off our product and yet we have strappers who can never own a house," Mr Martin said.

"Participants who work in this industry work 13 days a fortnight yet they will be renting for their whole lives. Those girls start work at 4am to train horses and they are on $42,000 a year."

Twenty staff at the Tim Martin Racing Stable in Rosehill train 40 to 50 horses, including champions Murtajill, Typhoon Zed and Kiloton.

"It's ridiculous. The corporate makers are having a meal off us while we are fighting over the scraps," Mr Martin said.

"They should be taxed on their turnover; the money would filter back into racing. If prize money went up I could put my training fees up and then pay people more money to train horses."