The reduction to effectively one race day per month has had the spillover effect of diminishing further the waning interest in the sport of local horse racing in this country.
Avowed gamblers who relied on the weekly and then bi-weekly fare for their satisfaction would, by now, have moved on to other alternatives to satisfy their gambling itch.
Alternatives there are aplenty ranging from the overseas fare to the various local avenues of casinos (sorry, members’ clubs), play whe and the increasingly popular but less legal, Chinese whe whe (chi whe whe for those with a sense of humour). With the diminution in the number of race days comes the concomitant diminution in the racing stock in the country and by extension, stud farms.
Over the last 12 months, the news has not been good for the breeding industry with some revered establishments such as the Paradise Farms in Carapo closing their doors while others such as the Poon Tip Stud Farm in Santa Cruz have shrunk their operation, in both cases, and all of the prior cases over the many years before, the land being re-purposed for housing – public (as in the case of Rancho Caballero in D’Abadie) or private (as in the case of the Scott Farm in its original Diego Martin location).
There is obviously no turning back for any of these farms just as we are reaching the point of no turning back for the demise of the sport itself in this country.
Ironically, while the sport is shrinking in this country, it is expanding in neighbouring Guyana. Guyana’s breeding and racing industry is booming at present. For all the travails that the South American country has experienced from the 1960s coming forward, Guyanese never lost their love for the sport.
In the darkest of days, after the main racetrack in Georgetown was closed and converted to a main road, horse racing would take place on the beaches and in the country’s interior. Is that what awaits this country’s racing diehards? Hard to tell but the signs are not good.
Interestingly, the much-touted racing explosion in St Lucia never really came off the ground and the word is that the fanfare around it was always more hype than reality. Difficult to be definitive as to the cause though those behind it would probably claim that it was a COVID casualty.
Whatever the cause, starting something from scratch is nearly impossible but so is reviving the dead. For the latter reason, those involved in the local sport need to do everything conceivably possible to avoid its demise.
Sadly, the racing stock in this country is now too small to support frequent racing but we need to look neighbouring islands like Barbados to determine how they have managed.
Firstly, their surface is different – turf vs sand. There is no going back for us on that score and we don’t need to, since we can have racing on both surfaces. We just need to ensure proper maintenance is undertaken on the two. Barbados has racing twice a month with two racing seasons and breaks in between. That is something which we should consider. Establishing two racing seasons and enforcing a break in between which will give the horses a chance to recover.
Sometimes it is better to slow down in order to move forward. If trainers know there will be a two-month (for example) break between the two racing seasons, then they will be able to work out their training regimes much differently. The racing programme will be rejigged to take that break into account and all in the industry will benefit. It must be very difficult to properly prepare horses for racing when there is uncertainty over when they will next race.
This may not be the solution but what we do know is that what we are doing at the moment is not going to work. The Arima Race Club and all involved in the sport seem determined to continue doing things the way they were done previously in the hope that something will give. Something never gives and doing the same thing repeatedly is unlikely to result in a different outcome due to perseverance.
On the racing front, this week brings another of the big racing meets in the UK with York’s Ebor meeting starting on Wednesday (August 17). The big race on the opening day is the International Stakes in which the unbeaten Baaeed seeks to extend his winning sequence to 10 over a new distance of 10 furlongs. His only real competition should come from last year’s winner Mishriff but it should not be overly strong. The feature race on day two is the Yorkshire Oaks in which the Frankel mare, Alpinista should be too strong for her rivals over the 12-furlong distance. The Nunthorpe on Friday is the feature race on day three and a very competitive race is expected though the claims of the exciting three-year-old Royal Acclaim are hard to ignore.
The Ebor itself will take place on Saturday (August 20) and Gaashee is the tentative choice in a usually fiercely contested event. The quality of racing on show during the week is sure to whet the appetite of fans around the globe. Good luck!