Curfew changes for Caymanas - Earlier race days coming after new COVID-19 measures
Published:Tuesday | August 25, 2020 | 12:23 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
With the new curfew restrictions in place for four parishes including St Catherine, chairman of the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC) Clovis Metcalfe said racing at Caymanas Park could now start as early as 10 a.m. on race days.
The Government has imposed a 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, which came into effect on August 21 and will end on September 2. This after a recent massive spike in COVID-19 cases in Jamaica. The other parishes that have been placed under this new curfew are Kingston, St Andrew and Clarendon.
Jamaica, yesterday, recorded 83 new cases, bringing the island’s overall tally to 1,612.
“The Commission is waiting on recommendations from the racing office, but it is expected that racing could start as early as 10 a.m., which happens when we had the Diamond Mile if you can recall,” said Metcalfe.
“It would be mandatory for the racing to be completed by 5 p.m. and the latest 5:30 p.m. and so that is the expectation of the recommendations that should come to the Racing Commission and we would work with that,” he said.
“I am in full support of that because you can understand that in racing, you can have some unforeseen delays and so we want them to space the races and so we would give sufficient time for it to start and end,” Metcalfe added.
RESCHEDULING
He also underscored that the rescheduled start of racing will depend on the number of races that is slated to run on that day.
“It also depends on the programmes because some race days, you have nine races, some days you have 10 of 12 races and so if we start at 10 in the morning and finish at five then that could easily allow for 14 races given any delays and all that,” Metcalfe noted.
Lorna Gooden, general manager of Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited (SVREL), says her organisation agrees with the early start of racing.
“We will be seeking to start each race day earlier given the new curfew hours, which starts at 7 p.m. Each day’s start time will be driven by the number of races on the card,” said Gooden. “ We have amended our operating hours and for race days, we will close the property at 5:30 p.m.”
Metcalfe underlined that SVREL has been doing an excellent job to ensure that all the protocols and guidelines were being adhered to at Caymanas Park.
“I have always commended the team at Caymanas Park because the general manager of SVREL and their security chief, Jason McKay, have been doing a tremendous job and they will continue to enforce the protocols that have been established,” Metcalfe said.
“The BGLC (Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission) and the Jamaica Racing Commission will continue to provide race day monitoring of this and we are happy to say that if the stakeholders do not abided by the guidelines, then they will be evicted from the park and we have been doing that,” he said.