Colin Hamilton

Horses leaving the gates in an 1820-metre race at Caymanas Park.

Wasting time at Caymanas Park

SOME RACING commentators have been complaining in recent weeks about the unprofessional way in which things are done at Caymanas Park.

They point specifically to the unnecessary waste of time before and after races. As one who has more than a passing interest in local horseracing, I wish to add my support to some of these criticisms.

It appears that an accurate clock cannot be found anywhere on the massive Caymanas Park compound. A noon post time at the headquarters of local horseracing may mean anywhere between 12:05 and 12:10. This happens every raceday. Nobody seems to care. In most jurisdictions abroad loading of horses starts a minute before post time and is completed on time.

problem persists

At Caymanas Park loading begins after the stated post time and takes five minutes or more. The usual problem is unruly horses, but the gate attendants seem to be afraid of the animals and appear frightened at the mere twitch of a tail. I know efforts have been made to properly train these gatemen but the problem persists.

There seems to be no coordination in loading the horses. There are times when the majority of gatemen are perched in the starting gates leaving one person to get in a very unruly animal. In Britain or the United States, two areas from which racing is beamed to Jamaica, three or four men are usually employed to get in a horse which is holding up the start.

Loading the horses and getting the races off in time is very important and somebody at Caymanas Park should make this known to everybody who is involved. This includes trainers, jockeys, workers in the paddock, parade ring and at the starting gate.

Races are sometimes shown live on national television and are broadcast live on radio each raceday. Television and radio time is expensive. The producers of programmes need to budget their times and cannot do so if a 1:30 p.m. race is going off at 1:40 p.m. and the 2:00 p.m. race gets going anytime between 2:05 and 2:10 p.m.

Also, in an era of computerisation, one also has to ask why is it still taking so long to show the dividends after a race?

Some years ago there were many complaints and under a previous administration a concerted effort was made to get dividends up on the tote board five minutes after a race has been completed. That lasted for maybe a month or two.

Even where there is no inquiry, it is still taking up to 15 minutes to show the dividends. That is surely not good enough. Dividends should be up in good time so punters can place their bets in good time on the next race. Turnover is important and it is the promoters who lose when bettors are locked out of races.