$40 million tote board for Caymanas Park
Published:Thursday | December 10, 2020 | 12:11 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
Lorna Gooden, general manager of racing promoters Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited (SVREL), said her organisation is now finalising the process of securing a $40 million digital tote board for Caymanas Park.
This comes almost a year and half after the display equipment stopped functioning.
“What we are looking forward to in 2021 is to put in a digital board to replace the tote board that is down, and so that is to come, and that is something that we are definitely looking at,” Gooden told The Gleaner.
“The current tote board is an ancient tote board that we have and we cannot replace it because we can’t find any supplier to replace those parts that have been damaged, and so we are going to take it down and put up a digital screen,” she said.
OUT OF SERVICE
A tote board is an easily identifiable numeric or alphanumeric display that is used to provide race day information such as results, odds, and payouts for each horse in a race. The current tote board, which is situated on the infield at the track, has been at the facility for more than 30 years and has been out of service since August 2019.
However, Gooden noted that SVREL is looking to install the new display within the first few months of the new year.
“We are looking at putting this in, in the first quarter of next year because it is expensive and it is looking like about $40 million to put that digital screen in the centre of the track,” said Gooden.
Gooden added that with the current tote board out of service, there are now plans to increase the number of television screens at Caymanas Park.
“The tote board is down, the big screen is no longer there, and so we are looking at bringing more screens to put at the track to ensure that the punters and patrons can see the races that they want and they can maintain the adequate social-distancing protocols at the race track,” Gooden added.
Meanwhile, president of the United Racehorse Trainers Association, Ryan Darby, welcomed the news, which he believes will be well received by the betting public.
“Any upgrade for the track is welcome because we have been waiting for a replacement tote board for a while, and so I think this will be very appreciated by the punters and other stakeholders,” said Darby.
Racing is set to continue at Caymanas Park this Saturday with an 11-race card.