Howard Hamilton I HAVE encountered more and more people recently who lose themselves in nostalgic reflection on the days before independence.
After 40 years, when two full generations have been born and grown up knowing no other state of existence, it is a peculiar phenomenon. However, I recognise that it has its roots in a creeping disillusionment that has overtaken many of us, who can recall days when things were better in certain areas of our national life.
This being a sports column, I will disregard areas like agriculture, crime, discipline, social order and the like and look at the horseracing industry as a case in point. This sport is not a recent infatuation of the Jamaican people.
In fact, Jamaica's involvement with horse racing and breeding is a centuries-old love affair, the earliest traced record of which dates back to 1777 when, according to the English Stud Book of that year, a horse named Temperance is recorded as having raced well in Jamaica.
In the early 19th century racing took place frequently in every parish, with Kingston having racing regularly between Monday and Saturday. Many notable breeders and trainers established reputations for themselves that reached beyond our island's shores and by the middle of the century two gentlemen, Messrs. Dickenson and Harmon had established at Pepper the largest breeding stud farm in the world, keeping an average of one hundred thoroughbred mares and seven English sires. Other reputable breeding establishments thrived at Agualta Vale, Friendship, Cardiff Hall, Harmony Hill and Montpelier.
Jamaica produced international equine stars that distinguished themselves at Epsom Downs and other tracks abroad.
Many of us can still recall knowing places in our hometowns and parishes that were simply referred to as "Race Course". By the middle of the 20th century, however, the reason for them being so named was no longer obvious, as horse racing had moved to a central venue at Knutsford Park in St. Andrew. In 1966 the Jamaica Turf Club, which had been formed in 1934 merged with Knutsford Park Ltd. and other interested parties and established Caymanas Park Ltd.
Many of Jamaica's "big names" were associated with these developments -- names like D.H. Judah, L.J. Armond, R.G. Ashenheim, V.O. Blake, A.E. Brandon, A.E. Issa and others. Today, Knutsford Boulevard in New Kingston commemorates the great days of racing that were once experienced on that site.
Now, given the huge success that Caymanas Park has been as a venue for racing in Jamaica, it may seem unreasonable of me to say that it stands as a mere hint of what could be. By comparison, let's look at the history of the legendary Belmont Park racetrack in Long Island, N.Y.
Though the horse played a pivotal role in the life of colonial America, serving as a beast of burden, a means of transportation and as a source of entertainment and competition, the Dutch who settled New Amsterdam were a people not particularly interested in racing as it existed in Europe. But the British who followed were.
In 1665, Colonel Richard Nicolls, governor of an infant New York marked out the first formal, measured racecourse in North America on the Hempstead Plain, near the present-day Garden City, and named it Newmarket, after the famed British racing centre. Thus Gov. Nicolls became, in effect, the father of American racing and Long Island its cradle.
Since the sport was closely associated with the British, it suffered in popularity with the Revolutionary War. Horses were as important in war as ammunition and food, and much of the finest native and British racing stock was lost in action. The most prized British horses were returned to England when the Americans declared independence and it was not until the early 19th Century that recovery would begin. Much of that recovery began on Long Island.
Several racecourses were constructed on the Island during the first half of the 1800s. These courses were originally without grandstands. Ladies rode to the course in carriages and young men on horseback. But as demand for increased comfort, shelter from the elements and competition for patrons grew, the face of racing changed for the better during this age, only to plunge again with the Civil War. After the war new courses sprung up all over New York state, a trend that was to be stalled by anti-betting legislation that closed every racetrack in New York from 1910 until 1913.
In March 1903 work began on the most ambitious and expansive racetrack construction ever undertaken in North America. On May 4, 1905, the original Belmont Park opened with some 40,000 in attendance, named in honour of the founding Chairman of the prestigious Jockey Club, August Belmont II.
To this very day the sport endures on the Hempstead Plain and Belmont Park Raceway remains unchallenged as the premier venue of the sport. It is here that the racing season reaches its climax annually with the final leg of thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown.
There are many parallels between the two success stories of Belmont and Caymanas Park. Next week we will see how one of the contenders begin to pull into the lead on the homestretch, having been given more rein when needed.
Howard L. Hamilton is a former chairman of Caymanas Track Ltd. and is currently president of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. He can be contacted at hhamiltn@cwjamaica.com.
