Horse Racing performed satisfactorily

Jan 03, 2010 Sports

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Adviser to the Guyana Horse Racing Authority (GHRA) Justice Cecil Kennard in an interview with Kaieteur Sport recently rated the performance of the sport this year as reasonably satisfactorily, but cautioned that there are still a few things to be done.
Positives-
Speaking about the positives of the year, Kennard noted that the setting up of a committee to classify horses, the confirmation of racing dates for the entire year, the acquisition of a veterinarian to examine horses on race day for their fitness and the general increased support from both the fans and corporate sector have to be reckoned as some of the encouraging developments for the current period.
Kennard mentioned that the construction of the Berbice River Bridge, the introduction of new horse owners and clubs and the improvement of facilities would have all played significant roles in expanding the popularity of the sport locally.
“Cricket and football are still the most popular sports in Guyana, but they are now followed by horse racing which has grown both in terms of fan base and prize monies and that has caused the swell in support for the sport over the past 2-3 years,” Kennard said.
He added that for last year two clubs were able to offer first prizes of $1million and according to him that is remarkable when compared with what obtained a few years ago.
Kennard pointed out that because of the lucrative prizes on offer, many of the clubs have been staging more that their fair share of Meetings which if not checked could create a negative impact on the sport in the long run.

He referred to the genuine efforts being made by jockeys to improve their respective abilities which have evidently made the sport and themselves safer with fewer accidents witnessed.
He made special mention of some of the corporate entities that have supported the sport exceedingly among them being DDL, Torginol Paints, Digicel, Muneshwar Ltd, P&P Insurance Brokers, Pomeroon Oil Mills, General Equipment Ltd, Metro Office Supplies, Didco, Pharmagen, Mohamed’s Enterprises and quite a number of others.
NEGATIVES-
The former President of the GHRA, who has been involved in the sport since 1955 also spoke of a number of negatives affecting the discipline.
He said that requisites such as doping, jockey insurance, crowd encroachment, insufficient co-operation among the six clubs, upgrade of certain facilities are still hampering the smooth development of the sport.
“I would like the new executive whenever they come into office to look at some of these hindrances so that we could enjoy further improvement all-round.”
Another problem expressed by Kennard was the fact that too many Race Meetings are being held in one year which has disappointed some sponsors since it is not allowing the horses to recover after one event thereby affecting the number of entrants for certain classes.
“I feel that there should not be more than twenty-two races per year divided among the six clubs depending on their grading,” Kennard opined.
He said that the number of tracks have increased, but Guyana still does not have the horse population to service all so he suggested the four main courses stage no more than four Meets, while the other two host at most three.
That according to him will allow the horses to recover in time for the next Meet so that fans and sponsors do not have to witness a depleted field, but rather get value for money which is important for sustaining the quality and popularity of the sport.
Kennard added that turfites also need time to replenish their funds since the sport is seen as a good avenue to bring the family along and that could cost some money.
“It is normally the same set of fans that go from track to track and running Meets so close to each other could impact significantly on their ability to be present at Meets,” Kennard disclosed.
Value Added Tax (VAT) is also having a debilitating effect on the ability of Track owners to adequately improve facilities Kennard pointed out.
“There should be a reduction in the VAT, Administrators are not making the kind of money many people think, these tracks are run by Committees who them spend the funds accrued for further enhancement of the facilities.”
Co-operation among Club Administrators-
There should be more co-operation among club administrators, I have seen a lack of support among clubs with some even selecting which courses they will participate at and that is not fair.
All six tracks need each other’s support; all are part of the GHRA so they must work as a unit to allow the sport to grow.
A Draft Bill has been sent to the Minister of Sport to table in Parliament in an effort to have legislation pass to address certain issues affecting the sport.
It could also give relief to VAT, we need legislation.
There is urgent need for the formation of a Jockeys Association and an Owners & Trainers Association.
The tendency for the bigger clubs to dominate corporate sponsorship should also be curtailed because every track needs that support as well, all are important to the industry.
Jockeys Insurance-
Presently, we do not have insurance coverage for jockeys and I would hope that this year the new executive look into this important aspect of the sport.
These jockeys are risking their lives to entertain us and I feel that even it is limited insurance they should be insured.
In the absence of that I think that in some measure the respective clubs should compensate any jockey that is injured.
Crowd encroachment-
There have been some improvement in crowd control, but there are still a few tracks that have not moved in the direction of trying to prevent such occurrences.
Some of the criticisms are justified and despite the observations I sense that a few have not made genuine efforts to rectify the problem.
The President (Vic Oudit) has been emphasising the point over and over even commending those who’ve made the effort to put systems in place to restrict such incidents and hopefully this year we would see all moving in tandem.
Kennard closed by extending thanks to the media for its overwhelming support over the past year which he referred to as critical for the sport’s growth and called on them to duplicate the pattern this year.

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