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Letter to the Sports Editor…The Horseracing authority has blundered again

Nov 23, 2013 Sports

 

Dear Editor,
The Guyana Horse Racing Authority (GHRA) has blundered once more and has placed itself in a conflict of interest situation causing prominent horse owners to likely withdraw their horses from end of year meets organized and or sanctioned by the said Body.
This writer tried unsuccessfully to explain to the current President and Vice President and other members also to members, that the role of the GHRA as a legal nonentity, is to supervise the current rules governing horse racing and not to dictate to horse owners, trainers, jockeys and grooms what they have to do until the passage of the horse racing Legislation in Parliament, which I appreciate that the Honourable Minister is currently trying to fast track.
This Legislation will guide everyone to the various requirements legally that should be followed. For example the original drafted document presented by Senior Council Mr. Marcel Crawford and Mr. Vic Oudit in the capacity of Legal Advisor and President respectively, clearly states that the Clubs are responsible for running horse races with traditional dates and any other dates available among the stake holders, while the Racing Authority supervises the running of the races on Race Day to the rules governing same and act only as a Referee in event there are any disputes arising out of the said races or if the said Clubs can’t come to an agreement among themselves with respect of the clashing of dates.
At no time we as horse owners and the draftsman of the racing rules have ever agreed for the Racing Authority to be in the business of issuing race dates and dictating who should run off and shouldn’t. So it was very dishonest on the current selected GHRA representative to misled the Honorary Minister and the Police Administration that they have total mandate and thus misled the Minister and the Police to Arbitrarily get involved in this illegality thus not granting permission to reputable Clubs and promoters to promote the Sports of Horse Racing unless the GHRA gives the clearance to the Police.
Are we still being governed by dictators?  I will hasten to ask the current Administration to explain if they are not in a conflict of interest situation.
(1) Isn’t the President of the GHRA a owner of a Race Track?
(2) Isn’t the Vice President of the GHRA also an owner of a Race Track?
(3) Isn’t the classifiers and senior personnel not Directors of those said race tracks?
(4)  Isn’t the said representative of those race tracks appointed the President, Vice President, Classifiers and other members of the GHRA?
(5) Why stake holders such as horse owners/ trainers etc are not allowed to vote and choose their representative on the Board of the GHRA.
So readers let’s assume that the above is what took place, how come the Minister of Sports is wasting his precious time to listen to these self appointed gentlemen and ends up in this big messy situation.
My prediction is, if the Honourable Minister don’t act very quickly and have consultations with the various stake holders in the horse racing fraternity, the current legislation will be dead before it ever reaches the steps of Parliament. For we the horse owners will lobby against it in its current draconian form and would like to know who gave this current racing Administration the right to illegally change the rules as had been agreed upon years ago by the draftsman and us.
Readers please bear in mind that there are horses owned by private individuals who extend a lot of resources without any guarantee of compensation, thus please bear with us if you are unable to see quality races for the festive season, for most of the large stables have signaled their intentions not to run their horses under this draconian and illegal entity or unless the above differences could be addressed and resolved instantly.
Colin Elcock

 

 

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