Tobago Correspondent
While most people in Trinidad will be returning to work on Tuesday after the long Easter weekend, in Tobago the festivities will continue as almost a century of tradition will be on display at the annual Buccoo Goat and Crab Race Festival at the Buccoo Integrated Facility.
The world-famous event, now in its 98th year, showcases the fastest goats on the island with their fleet-footed jockeys breathlessly scampering down the track to keep pace to the finish line.
All roads lead to the Mt Pleasant Recreation Ground on Easter Monday for the annual Carnbee/Mt Pleasant Sports and Family Day, which is effectively the warm-up for the main derby on Easter Tuesday.
In an interview on Good Friday, veteran trainer and goat owner Rudolph James told Guardian Media there is no sweeter sound than the gates bursting open and the thundering of hooves down the track.
“It is a unique thing. Tobago is the only place you have goat racing, and Easter is the biggest time.
“Tobago is so special that people from all over the world does come to see goat run. It is a fantastic thing to see. If yuh never see goats run, yuh missing something,” he said.
James, who has been in the event for 30 years, recalled competitors vying for tea plates and an icy-hot thermos in the early days.
He said goat racing has come a long way in prestige and prizes and estimated he has earned upward of $60,000 in winnings.
Pulling out his cellphone to show an image of his former goat Hundred Percent, James reminisced about dominating Mt Pleasant and Buccoo in 2016 and 2017.
“Back then the money was small. Then I get other goats, come up, come up, then I had Hundred Percent and Dance in the Park—them was big animal.
“One year, I win seven out of 14 in Buccoo. Hundred Percent win four races in the A class and Dance in the Park won three in the B Class.
“It is something you cherish, yuh love the sport, yuh feel good. Most of the time is the bragging rights. Yuh make the money but yuh lime out, yuh give friends.”
Asked how a goat is chosen for competitive racing, James said specific characteristics are closely observed.
“It’s a process. Yuh walk and look for a goat that jumpy, jumpy, more agile ... Sometimes you look for a goat, the tail, the structure, and then you start to train him.
“It is something like a horse, you have him like a pet every day, every night, and you cut grass with him, give them the feed, tonic, vitamins.”
He said regular exercise—including swimming—is also important to get the animal accustomed to certain environments.
He said regular veterinary check-ups are essential and there is also a special routine to get them ready for competition.
“Yuh prepare them and get them right. I does time them. You does know when they coming on right when yuh exercise them.
“It has certain things you look for. Yuh can’t get that on the tape, yuh will get that on the track!”
He said in his heyday, he was known as “the Tobago Mendez”, a comparison to the renowned local horse trainer Glenn Mendez.
Joseph: Goat racing
going downhill
Another top trainer, Kyle Joseph, who is also an athletics coach, said he started goat racing as a 14-year-old boy.
He said it was an easy transition to graduate from jockey to trainer after learning the ropes from his uncles.
Joseph said he incorporates a lot of his athletics training for the goats. “There is a science behind everything. The anatomy of the body is just like the human being; when to rest, when to swim, what to give them to eat, what tonic to give them.”
While praising the potential of the sport, Joseph is not happy with its management.
He arrived at the Buccoo Integrated Facility around 8.45 am to train, but instead met locked gates. He was told by security that pesticides had been sprayed at the venue the day before. Joseph is worried the animals would be nervous on Tuesday because they did not get to practise at the venue.
“I think the sport is going downhill—bad management. Decisions are being made without informing the goat race owners, and we are high stakeholders in it. So we just coming to show up and run and collect our prize money.”
Despite this, tourists to Tobago are looking forward to witnessing the tradition. A party of 16 from the US said they had been planning their trip to Tobago for the last nine months.
“I am looking forward to the goat races and just exploring the island,” one visitor said.
