An advertorial in the Track and Pools and a report in the Jamaica Observer (September 28, 29 and October 1) confirms Howard Hamilton is at it again.
He has been whining about the claiming system for 30 years. Apparently, every ill besetting horseracing, from low purses through low foal production to dwindling fan base, can be attributed to the rotten, evil claiming system.
Sheesh! It’s time the powers that be give Howard what he wants, which is a return to the old, British handicapping system where one man (or a panel of three) unilaterally decided where your horse was to run and with what weight. You invest. They decide the fate of your investment.
That, tough, was a recipe for corruption.
Investors and trainers routinely manipulated the handicapping system to ensure handicappers were hoodwinked into “dropping” their horse in class where it could trot up at a decent price for those in the know. Often the handicapper himself did a little fiddling with the numbers to give himself (and friends) an edge at the bookies.
The first horse I ever owned (in partnership with my older brother and father) was Casa Bianca. My brother was friends with a “small” trainer named Lloyd Constantine (“Consie”), whose immense skill and experience wasn’t matched by his Upper Crust connections. Consie was patient and, in a feat of conditioning of the highest calibre, prepared Casa Bianca to run his first race for months over 10 furlongs in “C” class. He won easily.
My father, starry-eyed, decided he wanted a fling at the best so instructed Consie to enter the 1980 Governor General Stakes. Among the early entrants was the legendary Legal Light. Soon after the early entries were published, my father was visited by the handicapper. After the visit ended my father said to me “do you know what that man said to me?”
“No sir”
“He told me not to run in the GG Stakes because I’d no chance against Legal Light and he had arranged for him to carry a light weight in an upcoming B2 ten furlong race. He said we could make a killing at the bookies.”
“So what did you do?”
“I told him to eff off!”
On Governor General Stakes day it poured with rain and a confirmed mudlark named Impetuous made all to win from Casa Bianca second; Legal Light third. The next time Casa Bianca ran he carried 129 lbs in A2 thanks to the handicapper’s ire. He never won another race for us.
The truth is, we don’t have a claiming system properly-so-called in Jamaica. What we have is a selling system whereby claiming tags are woefully undervalued, so several horses are sold each race day at bargain basement prices. The true objective of a claiming system is to make the threat of losing the horse encourage you to enter it where it’s competitive. A claiming system works perfectly if there are no actual claims.
So what needs to happen yesterday is claiming tags must be radically amended and pegged to the US$. The lowest claiming tag should be US$3,000.00. That’s when we’ll see competitive racing.
Howard’s other complaints also have nothing to do with any claiming or handicapping system.
Low Purses: Two main factors driving the low purse structure is the promoter’s greed and inefficiency. When Government owned and ran the racetrack, especially during the profitable Danny Melville years, a fixed percentage of ALL sales went to purses. SVREL has taken the Ebenezer Principle to new heights and only contributes a percentage of local racing sales. That’s what Howard should be railing against.
Then there’s the inefficiencies which are too numerous to list here. The old-fashioned way of presenting form to punters and asking them to place their bets is killing the sport. There may be no local competition but there are lots of international competitions where serious punters with disposable income can read form online (using search engines that isolate the horse of your choice and read and see its lifetime form without having to know the dates it ran).
Punters have the ability to bet with a single click (like most wives now shop) and can accumulate bets on horse racing with bets on any other sport. Even newly introduced online betting in Jamaica is so cumbersome it turns off experienced online bettors.
On Gold Cup day I tried to buy a Track and Pools. None was available anywhere. My former bookie told me she stopped selling it because customers stopped buying it. So I used SVREL’s abominable online past performances to guess a Super Six including the big race and headed off to my friendly neighbourhood OTB to place the bet. There was one customer in line when I entered. There were two computer “bet writers”. I tried the one with no line. There was a preferred customer in the back bending her ear with an interminable number of bets. When I gave up and left the OTB five minutes later the man who was before me still hadn’t been able to begin placing a bet.
In. 2024?
Low Foal Production: Foal production has been declining for years because farming operations’ expenses have ballooned and Government won’t treat Stud farms as agricultural entities and grant the same concessions it does to other more vote-catching farmers.
Also, Breeders are still not licensed to the Racing Commission so are like Wild West cattle farmers, able to do as they like without regulation or monitoring. And, because they are all forced by commercial realities to be cheapskates, they import the world’s worst stallions from USA instead of the best from UK (which they used to do in 1960s/70s). So, foals are afflicted with all sorts of problems their sires were allowed to hide during their racing careers. Mortality rates are high because farms can’t afford to hire resident Vets.
Handicapping, Schmandicapping! If Breeders will not take responsibility for their product to the extent that they won’t even break in yearlings before sale, horseracing will continue to suffer low foal production and farm closures
Dwindling Fan base: This is a marketing issue plain and simple. Previews of racing are now presented by personalities with as much knowledge of horseracing as J.D. Vance has of immigrants’ diets. SVREL doesn’t know how to market to a younger demographic (upgraded online services would be a start). SVREL’s eighteenth century website is a turn off and the advertising campaigns cater to persons already hooked on gambling. Get a bright, young marketing mind who will attract new fans to the sport. Gambling will follow.
So go ahead. Reintroduce the handicapping system. I wish you all the success in the world. Go with God.
DEPARTMENTS:
Clocked-In
Abbreviations: CT = “Corrected Time”; TV = “Track Variant” (a calculation of track conditions’ effect on official times to arrive at “real/corrected” times); TVs are expressed in fifths of a second; “minus” (-) means a fast track; “plus” (+) a slow track (e.g -2 is fast by 2/5th second). Variants beside horse’s names represent the difference between its official time and the grade standard.
SEPTEMBER 21, 2024 [TV+0.5 per 200m]
Pack Plays (-7) produced a scintillating performance (Race 7; Overnight Allowance; 1300m; TV+3) clocking 1:17.3 and beating Money Monster by 12½ lengths. His CT (1:17.0) is a full second faster than Grade One standard. As a progressive 3yo he must be a real contender for the Mouttet Mile if getting the trip.
Overseas Betting Opportunities (OBOs)
Tomorrow features the second leg of the popular Newmarket Autumn Double (Cesarewitch Handicap; 2m2f; 1535GMT; 9.35a.m. Jamaica Time) and the top two year old race of the year (Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes; 7f; 1500GMT; 9.00 a.m. Jamaica Time). The going is expected to be on the soft side of good.
In the Dewhurst the big favourite is Aidan O’Brien’s unbeaten The Lion in Winter. He has been impressive in two starts but took a huge step forward last time out on good to firm so may be vulnerable on softish going tomorrow. I’ll oppose him with Charlie Appleby’s Ancient Truth another impressive unbeaten colt (3 from 3) who progressed markedly last time out on easier ground than he met on his first two starts.
For the Cesarewitch I’m firmly with Willie Mullins’ Sea of Sands who returned on September 25 after two years away and showed markedly improved form to win a maiden hurdle at Listowel (soft).
The NFL is in full swing and I’m confident the Baltimore Ravens can rebound from a kiss-of-death 0-2 start (very unlucky) to win the Super Bowl.
Here’s a Notebook Horse:
Tawajjah [3yo ch.c. Frankel-Thawaanu (Tamayuze)] stepped up markedly for his turf debut (second start) at Windsor despite not getting the run of the race. He returned to all-weather next time out (Southwell; 2nd of 11). He looks a useful prospect who should win a novice before going on to better things especially over further than a mile.
Good Luck!
