ACCORDING to Solomon Sharpe, executive chairman of Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited (SVREL), the postponement of this weekend’s live racing at Caymanas Park will cost the marketing firm $120 million in projected revenues.

Stakeholders in the local horse racing business rejected a $27-million purse increase offered by SVREL during a boisterous meeting held at Caymanas Park on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, resulting in a tense stand-off.

Sharpe predicted a busy weekend of racing at Caymanas Park, with Saturday’s race meeting being the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC) Hall of Fame race day and Sunday’s race meeting having a required payout on the popular Reggae-6.

“We have had the business in a good trajectory. I find it very strange at this time, while when the business is going in the right direction, three persons from within that side decided to create a big disruption in the process.

“It is hurting all of us. It’s a big hit in revenues, about $120 million over the two race days — that’s what the projected revenues for live racing on Saturday and Sunday would be,” Sharpe told the Jamaica Observer.

“There was a Reggae Six payout on Sunday and so it is a big financial hit on the company, based on the 20 races over the weekend, and the kind of races that were on offer, and how we have set everything for this week. Sunday would have been a big day,” the chairman further stated.

The stakeholders rejected the offer based on SVREL’s alleged income of $6.2 billion, but the promoting company’s Chairman Solomon Sharpe argued that the revenue earned was actually $5.3 billion, and they are waiting for the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission (BGLC) to confirm the figure.

Sharpe had also stated that once that issue is resolved, he hopes to meet with the stakeholders and begin live racing.

“Based on the formula of 49 per cent of the gross gaming revenue (GGR) it is a big loss, and this is a big dent to the purse formula with the GGR. So, we have to just sit down with the horsemen, remind them of the formula set that they signed off on, and regroup and get us all on the same page.

“We’re always going for the dialogue. We would have had one preliminary discussion last night [Wednesday]. We reopened the racetrack, the exercise track, and we’re waiting to hear. We don’t know what will prevail next week, if they will nominate for racing.

“So we expect the information to confirm the figures are imminent from the BGLC, who have been working around the clock [in] making sure [to] cross the t’s and dot the i’s. So I guess as soon as that is clarified maybe we’ll get around the table and work forward,” Sharpe told the Observer.

Sharpe stated that SVREL has made major investments and implemented efforts to strengthen the racing product, and that he will continue to carry horse racing forward in Jamaica.

“I got a text message from an elder in the racing industry saying that there are blames on both sides. So there’s a lot said to us, there’s a lot heralded on, there’s a lot thrown at us, and you know there’s a big breach of our contract that we have and you said you’re not nominated.

“So, history will tell us whether we made a bad decision, and if we made a bad decision then I will have come in. As I said, people have said there’s blame on both sides and I’m willing to sit down and hear, accept where we go wrong — but the most important thing is to build a way forward,” Sharpe affirmed.

On Friday SVREL issued a statement advising stakeholders of nomination days for the upcoming scheduled race meets. Nomination day for the race day of Saturday, July 22 will be on Tuesday, July 18; nomination day for race day of Saturday, July 29 will be on Tuesday, July 25; nomination day for race day Tuesday, August 1 will be on Thursday, July 27; nomination day for race day of Saturday, August 5 will be on Wednesday, August 2; and nomination day for race day of Monday, August 7 will be on Thursday, August 3.