KINGSTON, Jamaica - After many years of complaining about the condition of the Jockeys’ Room at the racetrack, riders are finally seen an upgrade of this facility.
Work started last weekend on the refurbishing and expansion of the Jockeys’ Room at Caymanas Park. The Jockeys’ Room is the official station for all riders on a race day and other days, and is where they shower, put on their silks (colours) for each race, and also spend time in-between races.
President of the Jockeys’ Guild, Shane Ellis, was relieved that actual construction work had started.
“As jockeys, it is understood that we play a vital role in getting races to run at Caymanas Park.
“For a while now, the Guild has been asking the various promoting companies including the present one, Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited (SVREL), to do something about the conditions we work in at the track.
“I am really happy that something is finally being done to uplift our premises. As jockeys, we need an upgrade, and the hope now is that the work will be completed quickly and without any problems,” the guild president offered to The Supreme Racing Guide.
The official function to announce the refurbishing of the Jockeys’ Room took place last week Thursday (February 6) at Caymanas Park, where it was made known that Fycor Construction Limited had been given the contract to undertake the work on the jockeys’ quarters.
Chairman of the promoting company, Solomon Sharpe, in his comments, said that the refurbishing of the Jockeys’ Room is but one of the improvements slated for the racetrack.
“The whole process of upgrading the racetrack is a long and very tedious one.
“We have to proceed in some order of preference; we cannot do everything at one time. So, we have to prioritise, we have to look at our resources, and we have to make decisions.
“Not all our decisions will be agreed on by some stakeholders and others, but right now, we have decided to refurbish the Jockeys’ Room, and work has started.
“SVREL is assessing other upgrading projects for the race- track, and when they are ready, those announcements will be known to stakeholders and the public,” Sharpe said.
He then added that the work done by the contractor on the refurbishing of the Jockeys’ Room would be monitored closely by SVREL to ensure successful implementation and value for money.
