Wehby moves to settle horse racing impasse

Orville Clarke, Gleaner Writer

Don Wehby, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Finance, has directed the chairman of Caymanas Track Limited (CTL), Pat Rousseau, to meet with the heads of the various racing associations - signatories to an October 21 letter - and report back to him by October 31.

The minister was responding to a letter from the various stakeholders in the industry expressing their dissatisfaction and concerns regarding the state of racing in Jamaica, notably the $40 million purse increase offered by CTL, which was rejected.

The letter was signed jointly by the president of the Jamaica Racehorse Trainers' Association Vin Edwads, Owners' Association president Laurence Heffes, Jockeys Guild president Ian Spence, Grooms' Association president Paul Pancho as well as Garfield Reid, president of the farriers. Association and Barbara Boreland-Williams, president of the OTB Association.

The letter to the minister stated in part: "We have lost confidence in the leadership of CTL as a result of the manner in which that leadership seeks to deal with us.

Professional approach

"There is a serious lack of response to our concerns and there is no attempt at consultation or transparency that would assist in us remaining viable... We have therefore decided to ask for a meeting with you, preferably on or before October 28, to discuss our plight."

On Monday, Wehby said he had asked the CTL board to meet with all signatories of the letter.

"I have asked the board to write to me and report by October 31.

"I will meet with the board of directors to discuss the October 31 report and after that I will personally meet with the stakeholders. We need to approach it in a professional way," said Wehby, who himself is a prominent owner.

Continuing, Wehby said: "The problem is that we have never had a structured way to determine purse increases. We wait until things get bad and we ask for exhorbitant amounts.

"We need to look at a percentage of net free cash flow annually and determine a percentage of this to go towards purse increases... We need to look at new ways of administering racing," concluded the minister.