Day five of this year's Arima Race Club (ARC) season was cancelled Saturday at Santa Rosa Park in Arima.
At noon, only two jockeys had signed in to the Clerk of the Scale. Those riders were Romario Hernandez and Nela Mohammed.
On Friday, the Jockeys Association wrote to the president of ARC, Robert Bernard, informing him of their frustration with the non-payment of commission to jockeys, trainers and groom.
This was based on a meeting that was held on December 19, 2020. At that meeting, Bernard announced that the ARC would not be able to stage any more race days after Boxing Day because they did not have any more money.
At that point, trainer Harold Chadee stated that with the ARC already in talks with the Government, the Stakeholders should try to save the New Year's Day card. Chadee then asked for pledges and he pledged $10,000, John O'Brien pledged $10,000 and Bernard pledged $5,000 to start the ball rolling. There were several more pledges which insured a successful New Year's Day programme.
The jockeys stated that when racing was about to be shut down after Boxing Day last year, the ARC and Stakeholders came up with the necessary finances to host the New Year's Day card and pay Place Money immediately after every race with the agreement that the first prize or Win Money, will be paid when Dope Free came back.
With Day One cleared, the payment of approximately $5,500 payment was expected from the ARC but to date, none was forthcoming despite the Betting Levy Board (BLB) returning the taxes from betting to the Club which was supposed to pay that bill.
Guardian Media Sports have been reliably informed that for the past four days the stakeholders have ensured that racing kept going and not stop. On day one of the ARC bagged $587,900. On day two, the ARC bagged another $709,900. On the third, the ARC bagged $506,500 in betting both locally and internationally (simulcast), while on the fourth day of the season the ARC collected $521,200 in betting.
Clearly, the betting amassed from local and simulcast, show some $2.3 million coming into the system. The ARC made 30 per cent of that total and as such, met the quota that was requested in terms of stakes and commission for the first four days of the season. That take of $690,000 from the stakeholders assisted days of racing was successful. The average stakes per day were $100,000. Half was covered by pledges and taxes from the BLB ensured that the cost was met. Unbelievably, there was money left over in the "Kitty". There was no deficit.
When contacted on Friday president of the Jockey's Association Sheldon Rodrigo said, "This is the last straw. When I spoke to the ARC president Mr Robert Bernard requested that I speak to the jockeys. My response was that I have done that for two years. They are fed-up of the empty promises. They wish the ARC would fulfil their promises. If we continue in this boat, we will be going in the same direction once again."
Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, Guardian Media spoke to Rodrigo after the race day was cancelled.
He said, "I spoke to the president of the ARC this morning (Saturday) and he said that we should have hope. I told Mr Bernard, the jockeys have been hoping since 2019. I told him we abiding and worked through many tough scenarios. The ARC dropped the Stakes Level and we abided by that but the guys are fed-up of the empty promises.
"The commitment for 2021 is known by all and that is Place Money would be paid on the race day. Win money would be paid when Dope Free returns. To date that payment has not been made."
On Friday, the jockeys served notice that they would not ride and Saturday they stood by their decision. The majority of jockeys decided not to ride on day five of the ARC racing season.
So while owners have not been paid the bulk of what is owed to them, owners continue to pay their trainers on a monthly basis. How it works is that trainers in turn would pay their employees. Jockeys are not like the trainers and this is their livelihood. Therein lies the issue. The ARC has reneged on paying the jockeys their share of any monies won by the horses.
The jockeys see this as a slap in the face and have acted.
Efforts to contact the ARC president Bernard went unanswered.
See letter to ARC president Bernard below:
Subject: Race day 5
Dear Mr Bernard,
Reference is made to the caption and our conversation today (Friday).
As you may know, the Jockey Association had an emergency meeting whereby the majority of the jockey colony expressed their continuing frustration with the lack of payments or the extremely delayed time frame for payments.
For more than two years, our members have continued to put their lives at risk for the love of the sport. However, with little to no commission and at times, the commission being less than the riding fee, jockeys are tired of the empty promises.
As such, the decision was made by the majority of jockeys not to ride tomorrow (Saturday).
The Jockey Association stands with its members as we fully understand their plight.
The Jockey Association, as always, is open to any productive dialogue with all stakeholders in the interest of its members and the racing community at large.
Respectfully,
Sheldon Rodrigo
President
Jockey Association