Latest update February 20th, 2025 12:39 PM
Horse owner accuses PPP of skullduggery
Mohammed Shariff at right receiving a trophy in an earlier race from Compton Sancho.
Still owed money by Political party since April
One of the horse owners that participated in the PPP/C and friends horserace meet in April last has accused the PPP/C party of owing him money since last April and expressed disgust at the way things were done.
Popular horse owner and businessman Mohammed “Nankoo” Shariff of West Berbice is peeved at the way officials of the PPP and the organizers of the event are behaving and wants his money or answers. He said that he reluctantly decided to participate in the event which was not properly planned and was not a part of the racing calendar. He however took three horses to the event.
He sensed something was amiss when controversy reigned at the end of the feature event.
After being declared the winner with Spit Fire of this stable being given the edge over Jack In My Style of the Jumbo Jet stable for a winner purse of $1.2M, the decision was unceremoniously reversed and announced a dead heat.
Shariff stated that there was no controversy in announcing the winner with all the judges unanimously deciding on the winner. There were no complaints from any of the jockeys. There was no Steward’s inquiry and no one was called to a probe. None of the judges was called for an inquiry. He also stated that you cannot get a steward’s inquiry after the results were announced and the trophy handed over. He only learnt that an announcement was made
and the result was reversed to a dead heat.
Shariff stated that if that was not bad enough, he did not hear anything from the organizers concerning payment despite many efforts to make contact. He either received promises or phone calls went unanswered.
He was out of the country ill, and upon his return he was told to make contact with Roy Hanoman. Mr. Hanoman expressed ignorance of the situation, but promised to investigate. Shariff stated that Hanoman returned a call about 15 minutes after informing him that he was told that only $400,000 was available. He subsequently received a cheque for that amount.
A visibly upset Shariff stated that even if the final result was a dead heat, the first a second prizes of $1.2M and $600,000 should have been combined for a total of $1.8M divided by the two which should have been $900,000 each. He said that he received the $400,000 pittance with no explanation and since then he hasn’t heard anything from the PPP.
He is also owed a further $250,000 after his horse Swing Easy placed second in the E1 and lower event which had a first prize of $500,000. In total he is owed $750,000.
Other horse owners are also owed and want their money.
Shariff is regretting that he participated in the event since in previous horserace meets organized by the PPP payment was always an issue. Shariff stated that he is now weighing his options, in order to receive his dues.
Others in the racing fraternity want the new Government to help pass the long awaited horse racing legislation so that people would be held accountable.
He would also like a law passed that clubs and promoters should lodge the prize money long before race day. He feels that the PPP horserace meet was a hoax which they got caught in. (Samuel Whyte)
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