Observations from the first SVREL race day
On Saturday, Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited (SVREL) staged their first race meeting (11 races) at Caymanas Park since becoming the sole promoter of the sport on March 7.
The following are some observations.
1 – THE FIRST HANDLE: With no carryovers to excite the betting public, SVREL did fairly well on the day registering a healthy handle of $45,333,337. There were eight obliging favourites, with Twilight Dreams winning at the shortest odds, two to five (2/5). Longest odds winning was Sarah Lee at 21-1 in the seventh race. The average per race betting for local races was therefore $4,121,212.
2 – PUNCTUAL STARTS: There seems to have been a very strong attempt made by the promoter to start all races on time. Almost before all 11 races, the track announcers were pleading with punters to “head to the betting windows as attempts would be made to start races on time”. There was a noticeable buzz in the air around especially the Parade Ring as officials did their best to get the horses on the track for an on-time start. Based on informal calculations, horses were hitting the track approximately 10 -11 minutes before actual post time. A good effort at first try by the new promoter.
3 – THE RAKE: The perfect rake took place on SVREL’s first race day. SVREL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Supreme Ventures Limited operators of the lottery in Jamaica. So, a victory by Lottery Ticket in the third race could be counted as being ordained, after all, 6-1 is quite inviting odds for any winner.
Brando Hayden, chief operating officer (COO) at SVREL indicated close to the end of the race day that changes are being made to improve operations in order to enhance the horse racing product in a significant way.
“For the most part, races went off on time. That’s the plan, to improve on all aspects of our operations.
“Practice makes perfect and if we are going to export the signal as a first time simulcast it really means that we need to push out the races on time, so that people can feel that consistency and get that trust,” Hayden told the Complete Racing Guide.
Hayden proffered that it was a successful first staging for his company.
“I think that it went well. The feedback from patrons has been very good. So, we are for all in.
“I think that we just have to continue to build on what we are doing. It is all about improvement and the need to get better at everything that we do. That is the philosophy we have. We don’t have the answers to everything but we do believe that we can continue to improve and get better,” the COO explained.