Minister's move saves Heroes meet

By Orville Clarke, Freelance Writer

Vin Edwards and Rudolph Muir

THE Heroes weekend holiday racing carnival set for Caymanas Park tomorrow and Monday was rescued at the eleventh hour last night.

It took the intervention of Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davies late yesterday evening to pave the way for the two-day meet. A source told the Gleaner last night that the Minister held an emergency meeting with representatives of the Jamaica Racehorse Trainers' Association (JRTA) at the offices of his Ministry and agreement was reached that averted a shutdown by the trainers.

In light of this late development, nominations will be taken at Caymanas Park today for race meets tomorrow and Monday (Heroes Day).

Tomorrow's big sponsored raceday will feature the $1.5 million WITRA Classic over 2000 metres while Monday's Hi-Pro sponsored meet will feature the $1 million Hi-Pro Stables Choice Feeds Trophy for two-year-olds over 1200 metres and also the $650,000 Governor General Stakes over 2000 metres for three-year-olds and up.

Prior to the Minister's intervention, members of the Jamaica Racehorse Trainers' Association (JRTA) and the Jamaica Racing Commision (JRC) were at loggerheads over revised procedures for observers in the Equine Drug Testing programme instituted by the Commission as of September 8.

Yesterday members of the JRTA had refused to nominate horses for the two-day Heroes' Racing Carnival following the JRC's referral of a proposal from the executive of the Trainers' Association. The move came after the trainers had met with representatives of the Commission, including chairman Rudolph Muir, in the Racing Office at Caymanas Park on Wednesday afternoon.

The JRTA's proposal is that in each case the JRC should release the name of the horse which tests positive on the first sample but this information would be kept confidential for 24 hours by the JRTA representative present at decodings, so that the JRC can notify the trainer involved.

It was expected that the JRC would consider the proposal in less than 24 hours and a decision made yesterday, a decision which if favourable to the trainers would enable racing to go on this weekend.

But following a meeting of the JRC yesterday morning at its Winchester Road Offices, it was decided to refer the matter to a technical review meeting scheduled for Wednesday, October 17 at the JRC offices.

In a press release yesterday, the JRC said it expected next Wednesday's meeting to bring the matter to a conclusion and thus there was no reasonable obstacle to normalcy now returning to the industry.

However, the trainers, found that unacceptable and decided to pull the plug on both race meets.

"Last night (Wednesday) we expected the chairman to go to the Racing Comnmission and ratify the 24-hour arrangement", JRTA's vice president Vin Edwards said yesterday.

"Instead, we received a fax after 10 o'clock this morning (yesterday) informing us about a technical review meeting next Wednesday. We were under the impression that we had come to an agreement in the presence of the CTL chairman Howard Hamilton and representatives of the Owners' Association. The JRC has reneged on the agreement", said Edwards.

"If he gave his word and was unable to convince his board, then Muir should resign. We don't have any confidence in him", declared Edwards. He then called on Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davies to intervene.

Before the Minister's intervention executive manager for racing Karl Angel had stated in a release that CTL was 'deeply saddened' by the abandonment of the dual race meet.

The holiday race carnival is expected to generate more than $50 million in turnover for promoters Caymanas Track Limited. A cancellation would have cost the goverment over $10 million in levies and taxes.

The two-day carnival had also received major sponsorships amounting to millions of dollars. Tomorrow's meet featuring the $1.5 million WITRA Classic over 2000 metres is sponsored by the United Bookmakers Association, comprising Track Price Plus, Markham Betting Limited and Champion Betting, while Hi-Pro Feeds are sole sponsors of the Heroes' Day meet featuring the $1 million Hi-Pro Stables Choice Feeds Trophy for two-year-olds and the Governor General's Stakes over 2000 metres, a traditional Heroes' Day feature.

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