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Caymanas tote board to be demolished this month

Published:Friday | February 5, 2021 | 12:10 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
The tote board at Caymanas Park in Portmore, St Catherine, yesterday.
The tote board at Caymanas Park in Portmore, St Catherine, yesterday.
Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment General Manager Lorna Gooden.
Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment General Manager Lorna Gooden.
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Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment General Manager Lorna Gooden says that the tote board on the infield at Caymanas Park will be demolished later this month. This is because it will be replaced by a digital one. “We will be demolishing that...

Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment General Manager Lorna Gooden says that the tote board on the infield at Caymanas Park will be demolished later this month.

This is because it will be replaced by a digital one.

“We will be demolishing that tote board and replace it with a digital board in the first quarter of this year,” Gooden told The Gleaner at a press conference to launch the Champions Day event at Caymanas yesterday. “That tote board has been there forever, and when it stopped working, we were unable to secure the parts for it, hence our decision to replace it.”

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 existing board has been at Caymanas Park for more than 30 years and has been out of service since August 2019.

The new digital board will cost $40 million.

CHAMPIONS DAY

More than $10 million will be on offer on Champions Day at Caymanas Park on Ash Wednesday, February 17.

The race day will be held in honour of all the category winners from last season.

Gooden says the total purse for the day represents an increase of more than $3.5 million.

“I believe that it is a good symbol from the promoters to the horsemen because instead of going to the pomp and pageantry of a hotel for the awards ceremony, we are giving it back to the horsemen,” Gooden said during a press conference at Caymanas Park yesterday.

“I think that is something that they (stakeholders) will be working on because they were very excited about the announcement, and they will be coming to participate in the races.

“There are some exciting races coming up for the day, and we are hoping that the fans will come out and enjoy the day because of this spectacle that we will be putting on by the horsemen.”

The feature race on card will be the Ash Wednesday Trophy, which will be run over 1,300m for a purse of $1.5 million.

Champion trainer Anthony Nunes said he is delighted by this move by Supreme Ventures and is looking forward to the event.

“I think that this is great because during the pandemic that we are in, we have to be very grateful that Supreme Ventures has pumped up the purses for Champions Day,” he said. “It is great for horsemen right now. We couldn’t have a big day at the hotel because of social distancing, so what better way than to put it into the purses?”

It was also announced that NIPSTER has been voted the 2020 Horse of the Year.

NIPSTER, a four-year-old bay colt by Casual Trick-Nippit by Legal Process, is owned by Michael Bernard and trained by Gary Subratie. TOONA CILIATA and ABOVE AND BEYOND were voted first and second runners-up, respectively, to NIPSTER. Paul Francis was voted the most improved jockey in 2020 while Alford Brown was awarded the most improved trainer.

robert.bailey@gleanerjm.com