Trainers, including John Gosden, Mark Johnston and Chris Wall, plus representatives of the Jockey Club, the Jockeys’ Association, RaceTech and the stalls makers Steriline attempted to thrash out problems which have provoked a hail of criticism from a number of quarters.

“It was a very thorough session,” said Jockeys’ Association chief executive John Blake.

“Some progress has been made to the modifications of the stalls, but there is still some way to go.

“Steriline showed us a prototype of a new running board, grounded with rubber to give greater protection, that would in effect make the stalls wider as the board is narrower.

“They also demonstrated a new mechanism for the back gates.

“The conclusion was that there was a lot to discuss and that further progress needs to be made.

“I think that Steriline have genuinely been surprised about the problems over here as their stalls are used all over the world.”

Johnston admitted that he still has “genuine concerns” about the new stalls.

“The meeting went very well. It was good of them to come and show us some modifications. However, we still have genuine concerns, although some progress has been made. There is some way to go yet,” said the Middleham trainer.

Tony Goodhew, director of racecourse standards and licensing at the Jockey Club, said: “We listened to and discussed the trainers’ concerns about the Steriline starting stalls, and Racetech explained the modifications that had already been made and the additional change to the runner boards that are planned.

“We hope these further changes will reduce trainers’ concerns.

“We also informed those present that the Jockey Club is reviewing the current rules regarding starting (Instruction G1), particularly with a view to tightening the loading procedure.

“We will get back to the NTF on this issue in the very near future.”

The crisis facing the country’s stalls handlers, currently employed by RaceTech, was also discussed.

Major racecourse group Arena Leisure, owners of Britain’s three all-weather tracks, plan to employ their own team of stalls handlers from August 22.

That move may result in RaceTech withdrawing from the service altogether and leaving stalls teams without any centralised control. RaceTech currently employ around 50 permanent and casual staff.

Jockeys have threatened to boycott all seven of Arena’s tracks in protest in what is seen as a cost-cutting exercise.

“We had talks with RaceTech about the possibility of approaching the Levy Board to exhaust the possibility of getting support from them in a bid to uphold the existing RaceTech service,” said Blake.

“Arena going alone could not have come at a worse time as we are still having problems with the new stalls. The potential knock-on effect could be disastrous.

“More than ever we need experienced stalls’ staff. We can’t afford to lose them, but that could happen if the existing service is not continued next spring.

“By that time the handlers may have left the industry and got other jobs.”

Goodhew added: “The concerns of the trainers and jockeys over the Arena stalls team were discussed, and we informed them that we had asked Arena to show us, by August 15, that their proposed team complied with the Jockey Club General Instruction which states that ‘Starting Stalls Handlers are to be a competent trained team … supervised by an experienced team leader.”’

A full-scale trial was held for Arena’s new stalls handlers at Wolverhampton today.

Trainer James Unett said: “It went well. They’re a good bunch of lads and experienced, but like all new teams it will take time for them to gel. They will be fine.

“I just took along two of my horses and they galloped over seven furlongs. There were several other trainers here as well, including Brian Baugh and Heather Dalton.”