Gordon Robinson | An iconic legacy is being eroded

There’s too much irrational nonsense bruited about blaming the Claiming System for everything ailing horseracing.

Eight months ago (June 22: It’s the Economy Stupid!) I tried to explain horseracing’s economics to blinkered colonial system worshippers. That system hasn’t produced any better results in UK than Claiming in Jamaica. Racing systems don’t create profit. Systems should benefit stakeholders. It’s racing’s economics that produces profits/losses.

First, some basics: Horseracing properly-so-called isn’t the product. It’s a sport. The product is betting on horseracing as we now have betting on every sport everywhere.

Maybe a little history would be illuminating for those with short memories. In 1989 when Danny Melville, a horseman who knew polo but not horseracing, was appointed to chair a Racing Promoter that hadn’t turned a profit since Eve ate that bad apple, it seemed horseracing was a lost cause. Government, owed a raft of back taxes, had placed Caymanas Track Limited’s (CTL’s) forerunner Racing Promotions Limited (RPL) in receivership then liquidation.

This happened under the exalted British handicapping system. It wasn’t the system’s fault. It was how RPL was run.

Danny, a visionary businessman, was asked to carry water in RPL/CTL’s basket. He first took advice as to how the business worked and soon realized it had one source of income - the Tote. Legal and illegal bookies flourished draining customers and revenue from a dilapidated Tote which took minutes to churn out a $500 bet. That same bet was placed in seconds at any bookie.

Bookmakers controlled over 80 per cent of the betting market and paid a Government levy of 11 per cent of gross sales (3.6 per cent to purses; 0.4 per cent to cost of regulation; 7 per cent to Consolidated Fund). CTL paid 15 per cent Pool Betting Duty to Consolidated Fund. It became a perennial game of hide-and-seek between Government and bookmakers who notoriously used “double-books” to evade declaring actual sales.

In 1972, a Bet Winnings Tax (like GCT), to be collected by bookies and paid over to Government, had been imposed on punters. Bookies elected to absorb that tax because, otherwise, customers would disappear. That tax was never paid and, by 1989, gazillions owed to Government were written off.

Danny immediately recognized CTL’s taxes were too high and purses too low. He went to work without fanfare. He:

* twisted Government’s arm to reduce Tote tax to 7 per cent (so he could increase purses) AND waive import duties so he could import a new state-of-the-art Tote which could place any amount wagered on a single ticket. This was a transformational achievement;

* retooled archaic off-track betting by building an OTB network. Suddenly, punters anywhere could remotely bet into the Tote;

* recruited Chris Armond from America. Chris’s experience there was a key component of Danny’s Caymanas Park vision;

* relocated CTL’s headquarters from Red Hills Mall to the track;

* introduced transparency - previously foreign to racing promotion;

* included all stakeholders in a frank, open discussion; drew a pie chart representing the Tote; emphasized that every dollar earned by every stakeholder came from money bet in the Tote which should be shared by all;

* discouraged betting with illegal bookies by this demonstration. In return, despite there being no law to that effect, he committed 8 per cent of all Tote sales to purses. This was a horseracing first.

The result was whopping Tote sales increases including new, exciting wagers from the mind of creative genius Chris Armond. Sales records were broken weekly. Danny ensured horsemen received their promised share. When an equine flu epidemic forced racing’s closure, Chris used his American contacts to introduce simulcast racing from Florida. It became so popular that, when live racing returned, simulcast racing remained. Danny insisted a percentage of simulcast racing sales went to purses.

It was a golden era that brought local horseracing into the future. Danny Melville’s time at Caymanas Park is widely acknowledged as the most successful in local horseracing history. I recently asked Danny (now living in Canada) how he remembered those halcyon days. He replied:

“Please bear in mind it was a team effort.

“There was Chris, as I never learned how to read the race form. Also there was Neville [Rhone, Deputy Chairman whose aplomb, acumen and wit were incomparable] ; Derrick [White]; even Dr Paul [Wright initially a trenchant critic] who eventually came around; and Percy Martin.

“Richard Lake played his part on the financial side and later Rose [Campbell] . Forcefully removing the staff and office from Red Hills Road into the bowels of the grandstand proved to be one of the best decisions ever made. It tightened control of the racing plant and the horsemen appreciated the easy access to management. And saved a truckload of rent.

“I think once people realized the board really wanted to improve racing and not just enjoy the perks of sitting in the directors’ room, they got on board with us.”

Shortly after he left, Government again reduced the tax rate. There should be over two decades of windfall to be shared among promoter and stakeholders.

Instead, the current promoter terminated any contribution to purses from simulcast racing. In its Development Plan bid submitted for divestment SVL identified racing’s problems as including failure to “capitalize on the expanding gaming dollar”; lack of investment in facilities; failure to implement technology; lack of growth/diversification of customer base; lower payouts compared to other forms of gambling; and reduction in purses. The claiming system wasn’t mentioned in passing.

Among commitments SVL made were:

(1) Generally to develop the product through stakeholder engagement; integrating technology; upgrade infrastructure to enhance punters’ experience; introduce new revenue streams by incorporating gaming and other entertainment products; and facilitate growth in breeding.

DWL! In 2009, 177 yearlings were sold in the annual yearling sale. In 2018, 114 lots were entered; 66 in 2020; 67 in 2025. Breeding growth facilitation?

(2) Specifically SVL promised to install elevators to enable easy access to all floors; facilitate Private Boxes; upgrade facilities; construct a 125 seat Gaming/Simulcast lounge with 125-250 Slot machines; upgrade bathrooms; integrate SVL’s Lottery network to sell horseracing bets and open over 500 betting outlets.

There were about 120 OTBs in 2016; 110 today. SVL’s lottery machines don’t sell horseracing bets.

After a decade in charge, purses are pitiful; customer base shrinking; technology backward; marketing inept; new revenue streams missing in action presumed dead; facilities, especially roads, in disrepair; and SVREL has reneged on commitments made to win divestment.

In 2001, CTL’s before tax racing profit was $178 million (6.1 per cent of sales). After taxes (7 per cent) and other revenues net profit was 2.8 per cent. In 2011 CTL recorded a pre-tax racing loss of $187 million and a net loss (other revenues included) of $86 million. Now SVREL tells us it lost $400 million on racing in 2025? How? It can’t be the claiming system since, in 2001, eight years after its introduction, racing was making a profit.

Clearly something is going very wrong that no change from claiming can correct. It’s simple. SVREL is either spending too much or earning too little. Or both! Yet, while horseracing burns, SVREL’s parent fiddles but declares huge consolidated profits and pays shareholders handsome dividends.In November SVL declared its fourth dividend payment for the year (18.94 cents per share). Horseracing stakeholders received zero purse increase since 2023.

Now SVL wants to buy the land?

Seriously? Based on what track record? Steady erosion of Danny Melville’s legacy, which was brilliant, developmental, sustainable, selfless and should’ve ensured his induction into horseracing’s Hall of Fame ages ago?

SVL hasn’t honoured many bid commitments. Racing is teetering on the edge of a precipice. Why should SVL be rewarded for stewardship over racing’s decline with the property’s development potential without racing’s prioritization guaranteed?

SVL has shown zero commitment to horseracing’s growth. If we’re to go back in time let’s not return to our colonial past (handicapping) but instead to Michael Manley’s inspired decision to trust racing Stakeholders with operational control of their industry instead of a private enterprise committed only to consolidated profit.

In divestment, SVL won a gaming monopoly which didn’t need horseracing sustainability to prosper. Owners, breeders and trainers are racing’s largest fiscal investors. Jockeys and grooms invest indispensable sweat equity. These persons have racing’s interest at heart.

It’s time Government defends Danny Melville’s iconic legacy by stepping in on behalf of the horsemen it was created to protect and insisting SVREL either act in stakeholders’ interests or pass the baton to them.

Peace and Love