Impasse at Caymanas - URTA still trying to get SVREL to change decision on weekly racing operations
Published:Tuesday | May 5, 2020 | 12:00 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
United Racehorse Trainers Association (URTA) President Ryan Darby said his organisation will continue appealing to Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited (SVREL) to overturn its decision to reduce the number of days of operation at Caymanas Park.
A large number of trainers, owners, jockeys and grooms gathered outside the racing office at Caymanas Park yesterday for the second day of protest after SVREL’s decision to scale down weekly operations at the track to four days, from Mondays to Thursdays.
Darby told The Gleaner that URTA had met with SVREL officials in the past, but was unable, on each attempt, to change their minds, or to set a timeline for the resumption of racing.
“This meeting was necessary because we are in a state of disrepair,” he said. “We are in a panic state, and we are in a financially stressful situation. We have been in dialogue with them and we have not been making much progress over the weeks.
“Supreme Ventures has sent out some unacceptable measures that won’t be accepted by the stakeholders, being that it will kill our horses and destroy the industry.
“We are not fighting for racing to resume tomorrow, we are just fighting for the track to remain open to keep the horses fit enough that when the Government and stakeholders see it fit and safe enough, we can have a safe return of racing.”
Racing at Caymanas Park has been suspended since March because of the coronavirus pandemic, and Darby is now calling for the intervention of Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Finance Minister Nigel Clarke on the matter.
“This situation it is affecting some very poor people who are depending on racing,” he said. “Some of them are unemployable anywhere else in this country. The prime minister and minister of finance need to intervene into this matter very quickly.”
Former champion trainer Wayne DaCosta said the trainers and owners have been spending million of dollars to care of their horses and SVREL needs to let them know when racing will resume.
“Right now, Supreme Ventures had said that racing is suspended indefinitely and they have shown no light at the end of the tunnel. We are all in a quandary, and we don’t know what is happening,” he said. “We have 3,000 people directly affected by their decision.
“The key factor is start back racing and get us back so that the grooms and jockeys can have a livelihood so that they can have money to take back home to their families.”
SVREL said that it had to take this decision because of what it describes as “severe disruptions and the immense impact” of the novel coronavirus on the country’s economy, in particular, St Catherine.
It says that for the weeks of May 11 and May 18, the main racetrack will be open for operation for three days only, Monday, Tuesday and Friday, and for the week of May 25, the main racetrack will be open for operation for two days only, Monday and Friday.