KINGSTON, Jamaica – The following communication was received from the president of the United Racehorse Trainers Association of Jamaica, Patrick Smellie.
“The fact is we shook the pillars of one of the most powerful corporations in Jamaica as it pertains to racing which emanated from our then-unified position even when we cracked, we still stood strong.
This strength has waned over the last few days but I understand fully and have agreed with some of our trainers who are finding it difficult to cope with the current situation.
About 90% of our stakeholders agree with our stance, but only 20% can withstand the hurricane winds the situation has created and I fully understand this.
Now we are faced with three realities. Continue to shake the pillars and some of our LOYAL soldiers will be severely injured. Shake the pillars until the building crumbles killing some of our soldiers and then wait until the building is taken over by the state for refurbishing and or divestment again.
Some of us willingly chose the latter but consider this: can the 70% wait this out? The answer is a simple no. I have learned a lot from this impasse; I hope we all have. I am a very simple but honourable person after all what are men without honour.
We are not surrendering that would be the greatest mistake we would have made in this saga.
After the smoke clears we will be proud of this movement, we will feel vindicated as we supported the charge of righteousness, fairness, and balance for a just cause.
This movement has to salute its resolute soldiers, we did not achieve our main objective ( purse increase as stated in the deed signed in 2022) but we will be respected going forward, and I can assure you of that. We must also show respect, hold our heads high and never bow to any group or groups that think that we can be taken for granted.
After all is said and done we must consider our trainers that cannot "hold the line" any longer due to different circumstances.
One thing is sure, we never flipped or flopped in our resolve in this contentious matter.
Now the time has come for us to return to normalcy as we strategize our way forward, we have built a great movement, one we must be proud of which with proper planning and unity can only get stronger, let us not derail this as we continue
to march on for more sustainable increase in purses.
Let me categorically state, the above was not written because of TOBA'S letter, this was done after numerous phone calls today to and from trainers explaining their reality.”
2 Responses
OH my God, all that you are now saying, i cant understand why as a leader you did not let the other trainers know that this would have been the result. This only shows that there are real leaders who think about situations and evaluate every action and there are leaders who just take action without thinking or evaluating. I guess we all know who is a good or who is a bad leader.
Thanks for your comment.