Naturally, one is not able to detail every aspect of the racing industry in this space, but the points made here are possibly subjective, but objectively factual views.
Importantly, over the period, the alternating political parties in government have been prepared to support the racing industry thus ensuring its survival.
Sir John Mordecai, whose son Jeffrey became a prominent breeder and owner, and Richard Ashenheim were the most influential of the administrators in establishing the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC) Act and the Racing Rules between 1972 and 1977. From this point the horseracing industry was transformed into a more professional operation at all levels.
During his tenure as JRC chairman, Dennis Lalor was the staunchest advocate and insisted that the protection of the integrity of the racing product was of the utmost importance. He was uncompromising on corrupt practices. Generally, all the succeeding JRC chairmen have been respectful of the tradition of the Lalor doctrine and has proven to be almost equally zealous in this regard.
In 1989, then Finance Minister Seymour Mullings’ arranged funding for the resurfacing of racetrack and the establishment of a digital wagering platform.
By 1992 the industry was poised for take-off but suffered arrested development with the introduction of the claiming system in 1993. The decline has been concerning with population of Jamaica increasing by a third but ownership of horses declining by 40 per cent, broodmares 33 per cent and over 1000 races annually reduced to 802 by 2023.
Under the chairmanship of Danny Melville, promoting company Caymanas Track Limited. (CTL) utilizing, the digital tote from 1989 established more points of sales (OTB) wrested from, and completely reversed the 60 per cent market share advantage of the bookmakers. This relegated these licensees to 40 per cent, but the 10 per cent annual average growth rate of the industry guaranteed their continued economic viability.
In discussions from 1993 onwards during their respective tenures, all the CTL chairmen, Howard Hamilton, Pat Rousseau, Christopher Brown, Raphael Gordon and Anthony Hart recognized the futility of the inherently flawed claiming system racing product but got no cooperation from the owners’ and trainers’ entities to effect change.
Former Ministers Of Finance Omar Davies and Audley Shaw, to their eternal credit, acknowledged the potential of the industry and between them provided US$40 million in cash injections and tax write-offs to ensure its survival. This facilitated the divestment offer of 2016, which attracted three bids. Gaming conglomerate Supreme Ventures Limited emerged as the successful entity from the acquisition proceedings.
Having looked at the most influential operatives at the administrative level, in continuation of the review of six and a half decades of Caymanas horseracing the contribution of the horsemen and women at all levels is worth mentioning but pride of place goes to three racing families.
The most notable is the Hussey dynasty with patriarch Lawrence who trained, matriarch Ruth, a prominent breeder and owner, son Charles a four-time champion jockey and his sibling Percy, who conditioned horses to win major races including the Jamaica Derby.
Involvement of the Nunes family was also significant as the patriarch Nigel and sons, Andrew (Barbados) and Anthony, are highly regarded champion conditioners, whilst mom Hillis was highly successful at breeding and in the ownership of horses.
Then there were the McKenzies with patriarch Alty, a former jockey, and son John who were well respected trainers. The siblings of John, both David and Don were very popular and colourful jockeys, while matriarch Rita was an owner and doubled as the famous seamstress who, for over five decades, designed even the most intricate of racing colours for most owners.
In Part Three of this review a look will be taken at the greatest horsemen and horses ever at the Caymanas racetrack in my next column.
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