Racing Back On Track At Caymanas

A shutdown of horse racing at Caymanas Park was averted yesterday following the intervention of Finance Minister Audley Shaw at a hastily arranged meeting with the various stakeholders within the racing industry at the offices of the Ministry of Finance, Heroes Circle.

At a meeting on Tuesday at Caymanas Park, the stakeholders took a decision to withhold their support of horse racing as of Saturday, June 18 until matters of concern were addressed by Minister Shaw and his junior minister, Senator Arthur Williams, who has portfolio responsibility for the racing industry.

Prolonged impasse

The vexed issues had to do with the prolonged impasse between Caymanas Track Limited (CTL) and the bookmakers over increased rights fees, and a need for Government's approval for the resumption of Sunday racing with the full involvement of the CTL Off-Track betting parlours.

Yesterday, all the stakeholders were invited to a mid-afternoon meeting with Minister Shaw and Senator Williams at which they were not only given "certain assurances" by Minister Shaw, but asked to exercise a bit more patience, with a report coming out of the mediation process between CTL and the bookmakers scheduled for June 23.

In addition to the heads of the various interest groups, the meeting was attended by CTL's Deputy Chairman Raphael Gordon and Director of Operations Camile Buchanan.

Nomination of horses for Saturday's race meet is now scheduled for this morning at the CTL Racing Office, Caymanas Park, between the hours of 8:30 and 10.