Are times a changing at the Park?
THERE seems to be a breath of fresh air blowing over the Caymanas Park racing complex.
Since the appointment of new Chief Executive Officer Cedric Stewart on March 1, this writer has been receiving encouraging feedback on his approach to the job and some of the initiatives he is already putting in place, especially in the stable area.
One person reported the notably presence of trucks in the stable area clearing the large stockpile of rubbish and debris accumulated over a prolonged period. If this report is true, it represents a major step for Stewart as horsemen have been complaining for far too long about bad and unhealthy conditions in the stable area. Clearing the mess is but one simple and necessary step by the CTL management team led by Stewart in ensuring the health conditions for racing personnel and the horses are kept at even a minimal level of acceptance.
The horse population is already small and the promoting company cannot afford to lose or have horses not racing because of avoidable sickness problems occasioned mainly by unclean environmental conditions.
Stewart and his team must ensure that this initiative is not simply a one-day wonder but a regular part of track operations and maintenance procedures. Hopefully with this cleaning exercise underway it will be followed by a proper health inspection by the authorities vested with the responsibility.
Then we also heard, wonder of all wonders, that personnel from CTL were actually in the stable area seeking possible entries for Saturday’s race programme. If this is indeed true it would represent a paradigm shift in the approach of the company.
Many writers and lovers of horse racing have been saying for a very long time that this is the proper approach in trying to get as many starters as possible on the racetrack, to give punters greater betting options and to increase the amount of money churning through the tote on racedays.
The programme offered on Saturday, March 9, although not the best in quality, was decent in terms of numbers and as a result the reported handle was approximately $35 million, compared to an average of $29 million over the last three racedays or so.
Again, if this development of seeking entries early before a raceday is true, long may it continue and long may it be successful. Of course, getting those starters on the racetrack is very dependent on the races offered by CTL, CEO Stewart would not be remiss if he sat down with his team and a team from the stakes holders in fine-tuning a more comprehensive and appealing set of offered races based on the available stock, with a view of providing better programmes for the long-suffering fans who support the sport, raceday after raceday with their hard-earned cash.
The last race on Wednesday, March 6, won by Power By Light was run in darkness because of rain. Punters at the track were unable to see the horses in the five straight event until the final furlong. It is fully understood that the weather can quickly change racing conditions as it did on Wednesday, yet it is the responsibility of the promoters to calculate for these shifts in weather patterns.
Ten races on tap with a 1:15 pm Wednesday start is pushing it very close to even natural darkness especially with a 5:45 pm post time for the last race. This writer notes with appreciation that CTL changed the post time to 12:45 pm on Saturday with the same number of races on offer. Whoever was responsible for this Saturday decision is to be praised as caution is always preferred in these instances.
We are encouraged with the news filtering from the racetrack. Hope this breath of fresh air will continue to blow for a long time.