Champion groom Keino Martin stands beside Nijinsky's War at Caymanas Park, on Saturday, February 10. - Colin Hamilton/Freelance Photographer

Orville Clarke, Freelance Writer

KEINO MARTIN will long remember the night of Thursday, February 8 at the annual None Such/Horse of the Year awards dinner at The Jamaica Pegasus.

Back then he received the award for having emerged the champion groom of 2006 and this he felt was a fitting reward for hard work, dedication and sacrifice on his part during the period.

Martin, who was attached to the stables of Donovan Bruce, last year, groomed 15 winners to capture the award. Among them were the speedy gelding, DOUBLE BEAU, who won six races up to the overnight allowance class, SCOTCHONTHEROCKS, THAT'S THE LAW, CORDITE, HEAVENLY DREAMS and COMMON 'D'.

While contending that grooms are the hardest and most dedicated workers at Caymanas Park, he believes they don't get the recognition they deserve.

"I work seven-days per week and I am at the track by 4:00 a.m. every morning," disclosed the former Camperdown High student. "But some people in the industry still look down on grooms and in the scheme of things, it's not easy to make ends meet unless you have a top stakes winning horse like Miracle Man or Distinctly Irish, a leading two-year-old or a Classic three-year-old in your fold. Grooms get five per cent of purses," added the 22-year-old who resides at Gregory Park, a community close to the Caymanas Park racing complex, in St. Catherine.

Pay increase

Martin recalled that last year the jockeys received a 150 per cent pay increase from the Jamaica Racing Commisssion, but when it was time for the grooms to get their increase, they had to fight for every cent and eventually received a paltry $2,000 for one horse and $4,000 for two.

Martin has been a groom for the past six years, having started on leaving school at age 16. His ambition was to become a jockey, but he quicky abandoned the idea owing to his size.

He started whom trainer Lawrence 'Cummy' Freemantle, who he described as "his boss in racing" and chalked up his first winner, KING OF THE BAND, with Freemantle.

Martin is currently attached to the stables of Christopher Morrisson where he looks after three horses - MICHAEL POWER, HELTER SKELTER and COMMON 'D'.

During the late 1980s, when rampaging grooms used to 'lock down' the industry at the drop of the hat, a wealthy owner (now deceased) painted a very negative picture of grooms at Caymanas Park.

He was quoted as saying, "All they do is beg, gamble and smoke ganja."

Martin, however, said that snobbish attitude is no longer prevalent.

"Racing has changed since the claiming system came on stream in 1993. Today we have a different type of owner. Grooms have become more responsible as well.

"We can stand up and be counted like any other professionals in racing. But the benefits to us have not kept pace with the others," said the father of two.