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Justice Kennard seeks clarity

Jul 14, 2011 Sports

Dear Editor,
I crave your indulgence in your newspaper to clarify certain issues raised by my friends Colin Elcock and Nazuredeen Mohamed in their letters which appeared in Kaieteur news of 25th June and 3rd July, respectively.
When I wrote my letter it was my intention to provoke discussions and to see which is the best way forward for horseracing. I think this has been achieved.
So far as Mr. Colin Elcock’s comments are concerned, I wish to state that I was present when a former President of the Guyana Horse Racing Authority, Mr. Vic Oudit handed to the Honourable Minister of Culture, Youth, Sports Dr. Frank Anthony a Draft copy of the Guyana Horse Racing Authority Legislation. This was about three yeas ago.
I was also present at a meeting with the said Honourable Minister some time last year when Mr. Khemraj Rai the last President of the Guyana Horse Racing Authority reminded the Honourable Minister of the Draft legislature.
He had promised to look into the matter. Maybe, the Honourable Minister did not do anything about the draft legislation because he felt that the Clubs should first of all put their houses in order.
However, I would suggest that Mr. Colin Elcock speak with Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Youth, Sports Steve Ninaville (a friend of his) and ask him to have a word with the Honourable Minister concerning the draft legislation. This would certainly help.
As for the Mr. Nazarudeen Mohamed’s letter (or was it Mr. Romel Jagroop’s), I would like to state that the Kennard’s Memorial Turf is not one of the Clubs which charges a fee of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for the use of its facilities.
Our Club has never charged for the use of its facilities, whether it be for horse racing or any other activity. We shall continue to do so as we are community minded.
A Horse Racing Authority is absolutely necessary in order to supervise the functioning of the various race clubs.
Every where in the world there is an umbrella body which oversees sporting organizations. Guyana should be no exception.
Unless there is a functioning Racing Authority, I doubt whether the Honourable Minister would take steps to push the legislation through.
I have no difficulty with persons who are prepared to invest a lot of money in horse racing. Indeed these persons must be commended for their efforts and given the necessary encouragement.
What I am concerned about however is when persons or clubs fix their race meetings in such a way as to create difficulties for other clubs.
Both clubs and individuals, who organize horse racing events, should cooperate with each other so that the impression is not given that someone is trying to be a bully.
I was born in a horse racing family as both my grandfather and father had invested a lot of money in horse racing and had large stables. I myself had raced horses in my early days. I am therefore, quite aware of the price of race horses and the cost of up keeping them.
My grandfather and father were one of the few persons in Guyana who, in earlier times, had bought race horses from the British Blood stock in England and brought them down to race on the various race tracks in Guyana, one of them being Vagabond Lady which later produced Prithi Raj which raced successfully on the various tracks in Guyana including Durban Park.
It was people like myself, Mr. Inshanally Habibullah and Mr. Marcel Crawford who kept horse racing alive in Guyana after the closure of Durban Park.
Now we have some Johnny Come Lately who are saying that they are saviours of horse racing. I wish them luck and success. However, Kennard’s Memorial Turf Club will continue to strive despite obstacles being created against it.
In the past the Guyana Gold Cup was run on a date allocated to a Club.
However, the date on which it will be run this year is a date outside the normal fixtures.
This is my last letter on the subject.
C.C. Kennard

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