Dear Editor,
Horse racing has been around almost from the creation of mankind. Caymanas Park, Jamaica's only horse racing track, has been in operation since 1959. However, all is not well with the "Sport of Kings" and has not been so for the longest while.
Over the years, there has been an exodus of thoroughbreds from Jamaica to Santa Rosa Park in Trinidad and Tobago to continue their racing careers.
The local horse racing industry currently employs over 12,000 Jamaicans both directly and indirectly. It is logical to say that a significant number of those jobs will be threatened and disappear if the mass horse exodus from Jamaica continues.
Recently, there was an article in one of the daily newspapers in which one race horse owner spoke of his frustrations and displeasure with aspects of racing at Caymanas Park, which he said have resulted in him removing his horses to Trinidad and Tobago.
It's a well-known fact that the authorities have failed to address the many problems affecting the local horse racing industry, in particular, operations at Caymanas Park. Now we have a serious situation in which race horse owners are shipping their horses in droves to Trinidad instead of waiting around for the authorities to solve the problems.
The issue of security is another problem that needs urgent attention.
To add insult to injury, of the 17 horses slated to leave in this batch, at least one is a classic winner of the 2013 1000 Guinness. This can't be good for the local horse racing industry as our punters are being robbed of seeing our best thoroughbreds compete.
Horse racing is too important to the Jamaican economy and the livelihood of many Jamaicans for us to sit idly by and allow the industry to crumble. Maybe the time has come for the government to divest operations of Caymanas Park and allow the full potential of the horse racing industry to be realised. If that were to happen, certainly we would have horses leaving Trinidad to come to Jamaica to compete against our best thoroughbreds.
Decisive action is urgently needed on the matter to save the local horse racing industry.
Wayne Campbell
waykam@yahoo.com
JA losing out from horse exodus
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Horse racing has been around almost from the creation of mankind. Caymanas Park, Jamaica's only horse racing track, has been in operation since 1959. However, all is not well with the "Sport of Kings" and has not been so for the longest while.
Over the years, there has been an exodus of thoroughbreds from Jamaica to Santa Rosa Park in Trinidad and Tobago to continue their racing careers.
The local horse racing industry currently employs over 12,000 Jamaicans both directly and indirectly. It is logical to say that a significant number of those jobs will be threatened and disappear if the mass horse exodus from Jamaica continues.
Recently, there was an article in one of the daily newspapers in which one race horse owner spoke of his frustrations and displeasure with aspects of racing at Caymanas Park, which he said have resulted in him removing his horses to Trinidad and Tobago.
It's a well-known fact that the authorities have failed to address the many problems affecting the local horse racing industry, in particular, operations at Caymanas Park. Now we have a serious situation in which race horse owners are shipping their horses in droves to Trinidad instead of waiting around for the authorities to solve the problems.
The issue of security is another problem that needs urgent attention.
To add insult to injury, of the 17 horses slated to leave in this batch, at least one is a classic winner of the 2013 1000 Guinness. This can't be good for the local horse racing industry as our punters are being robbed of seeing our best thoroughbreds compete.
Horse racing is too important to the Jamaican economy and the livelihood of many Jamaicans for us to sit idly by and allow the industry to crumble. Maybe the time has come for the government to divest operations of Caymanas Park and allow the full potential of the horse racing industry to be realised. If that were to happen, certainly we would have horses leaving Trinidad to come to Jamaica to compete against our best thoroughbreds.
Decisive action is urgently needed on the matter to save the local horse racing industry.
Wayne Campbell
waykam@yahoo.com
JA losing out from horse exodus
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