Yuletide Racing Reflections
’Tis the season and all that… It’s traditional to reflect on the year’s happenings as we draw to the end of yet another racing year. For me the standout performer must …
Land reform must follow Hurricane Melissa
In 1838, slavery was abolished in the British West Indies. It was the end of an over 300-year policy, practice, and business of enslaving Africans to work on the sugar plantations on …
Recruiting COVID Suicide Bombers?
The continued operations of small, crowded, unsanitary Off Track Betting Parlours (OTBs) during the third wave of a pandemic that has caused oxygen supplies to run out and the near collapse …
Two-for-one Guineas
Out of evil cometh good! The pandemic not only forced SVREL to pause the nonsensical running of the 2,000 Guineas on a Sunday, it has (temporarily?) required the running of both …
Horseracing stakeholders must be prepared for compromise
The flag-burning and demonstration of anger by stakeholders of the racing fraternity outside the gates of the country’s only racetrack a few weeks ago was the physical demonstration of frustration that …
If You Can’t Hear…..
So, local horse racing has finally been sent on furlough. This after weeks of stubborn resistance during which countless Jamaicans of modest means and most vulnerable to the current pestilence were …
Where Time Is Meaningless!
Last week, in-between family duties, I watched as much of the five-day Glorious Goodwood festival from Sussex, England, as possible. On Thursday, a peculiar thing happened. Although the first race went …
THE FUTURE MUST BE NOW!
The new horse racing promoter has tried manfully for two years to revive a dying sport but CPR isn’t working and there are no defibrillators in sight. SVREL’s unaudited accounts …
Let The Spinning Wheel Spin
She who must be Obeyed (SWMBO) recently celebrated her 37th wedding anniversary on the twoth of March (we have the 4th, 5th, 6th etc so why isn’t March 2 the …
ONE STEP FORWARD; ONE BACK
The new racing promoter has taken some steps in the right direction. For example, I notice there has been an attempt to raise the value of claiming tags albeit only at …
Put betting excitement in Guineas weekend
By the time we meet again, 2018’s first classics will have been run on April 14 (1,000 Guineas) and 15 (2,000 Guineas) so readers must settle for an early look …