New Caymanas tote board to be ready in early June

General Manager of Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited (SVREL), Lorna Gooden, says the new tote board at Caymanas Park is scheduled to come into operation within the next two weeks.

Gooden told The Gleaner that the testing of the tote board will be carried out in the first week of June before it comes into full operation a week later.

“We should be finished in another week and then we will have a week for testing, and so within the second week of June we should be going live with the tote board,” Gooden said.

“It took a lot of sacrifice, a lot of work and learning experience, but one that we know will garner significant revenue and contribution to the operations of Caymanas,” she said. “It has been long in coming. It has been impacted by COVID-19 with our shipping and our delivery and the prices for the supplies; but we are here and we are excited that it is almost ready to go live,” Gooden said.

A tote board is an easily identifiable numeric or alphanumeric display that is used to provide race-day information, including payouts, results and odds for each horse in a race.

Gooden pointed out that the digital screen along with the construction of the base is costing her company more than $100 million. However, she emphasised that the new digital tote board, which is located on the infield at Caymanas Park, will help to generate advertising income for SVREL.

“It is worthwhile because our products will be broadcast to the punters in the stands, and it will provide additional revenue opportunities for us,” she stated.

Patrick Smellie, the president of United Racehorse Trainers Association of Jamaica, said his organisation is very delighted with the news that the digital tote board will come into operation very soon.

“It is a positive thing, because we have been hearing for sometime now that it will be ready next week, and so let’s hope that it will be ready in the shortest time possible,” Smellie said.

The construction work on the new board was done by Kencasa Construction and Project Management Limited.