The small size of the fields in the events restricted to juveniles is of some concern to some and a major cause of worry to many more of the dwindling cohort of experienced lovers of horse racing.
Since the three-furlong Cradle Stakes run on August 8, four more races have been programmed and only a total of thirteen foals of 2025 have been rotated through so far.
For general information, Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC) 1977 Racing Rule #69 stipulates that no two-year-olds shall race before March 01 and shall not run a distance of more than five furlongs prior to June 01. Further, an imported juvenile, not bred in Trinidad & Tobago or Barbados, can race against older horses from September 1.
Interestingly, in JRC Rule #69, which is entirely dependent on favourable prevailing circumstances, the promoting company is tasked as follows: “there shall be one race for two-year-olds in each day’s programme, after the 1st of October in each calendar year”.
This, of course, is a throwback to the halcyon days when the breeding sheds delivered over 300 foals annually and ensured the horse population exceeded 1200. Understandably, there is a directive that, curiously, no locally-bred horses shall compete against older horses before December 01.
This never made sense before the momentous, counterproductive introduction of the claiming system in 1993. There was a genuine classification of the horse population which yielded 115 runners per programme in between 11 and 12 races on each of the 84 race days under the handicap system. This, from 29 race meets in 1959, the first full year of the Caymanas Park operations at the newly-minted facility.
The signs unfold with each succeeding year as the decline in horse population means there is under investment in this crucial aspect of the industry. Another of the now annual mixed sales is imminent and it will be very instructive to analyse the returns. This is a key annual indicator of the short- term and long-term future of the industry.
The racing industry and its different components have not had the benefit of really enlightened leadership and courageous management. If it did, the claiming system as currently constituted, which is an American aberration, would still be in existence for 33 ½ years. In fact, the main operatives either have had a serious long-term knowledge deficit in this matter or prefer to play a game of self-interested participation.
As pointed out over the period, it is not claiming tags that are the main source of the problem, but the bizarre, one could say idiotic artificial classification of the horse population. This is where inferior horses concede weight to superior ones in all races, creating odds-on favourites that actually discourage wagering and have no prospects of expanding the market.
Exactly one year ago, the US Jockey Club brought the classification of the horse population on stream, which is effectively a system of handicapping that assists owners in deciding where the best realistic chance is of placing their horses successfully. Now that the American model has changed, why is the horse population of Jamaica still divided into 19 artificial categories, ensuring smaller field sizes and underperformance as an asset for profitability?
Until and unless the local horse racing industry is restructured on the British Horseracing Authority model, where the operation of the major tracks is that body’s responsibility, and there is a central panel of handicappers equalizing the form of the horse population, no meaningful development of the local industry is likely.
Again, as I have been pointing out, the incessant blaming of promoting company Supreme Ventures Racing & Entertainment Ltd for lack of development in nine and a half years is non-sensical. The fact of the matter is that the company inherited a seriously flawed and complicated gaming product and is now locked in a Divestment Agreement which, based on revenue and expenditure, is not realistic in terms of the deliverables.
Speaking of unrealistic expectations and demands, the leaders of the Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders Association and the United Racehorse Trainers Association of Jamaica, which constitute the intelligentsia of the industry, need to come to the realisation that it is the product that has failed and the solution has been available for over two decades.
