Book Empire Limited, through their popular brand Seek exercise books, will host the 10th anniversary of the Seek Back-to-School race day on Saturday. This was announced at a press conference held at the Office Brokers and Supplies Limited on Dunrobin Avenue in Kingston last Thursday .

The feature event on the day will be the Seek Exercise Book Trophy, an Open Allowance event over six-and-a-half furlongs (1,300m) for a purse of $1.5 million, inclusive of $250,000 from Book Empire. The race meet is scheduled for Saturday August 26 at Caymanas Park. The remaining races on the day will carry the names of other products manufactured by Book Empire Limited.

Book Empire will be giving away a total of 2,000 Seek exercise books to patrons at the Park on the day. In addition, the first 100 children who enter Caymanas Park that day will receive back-to-school gift bags.

Local promoter Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited (SVREL) will also donate back-to-school items valued at $300,000 to three schools located near to the racetrack – the Gregory Park Basic and Primary, Independence City All Age and Cedar Grove Basic schools.

Bruce Baylis, chief executive officer at Book Empire Limited, spoke of his company’s commitment through sponsorship to the racing industry.

“This is our way of saying thank you to our customers who have been supporting Seek over the years. The racing industry has many parents who have children, and as racing enthusiasts we use our race day to give back to them. It will also be a beautiful day for us to bring our staff from Seek to have a family day at the races.

“We usually have a big turnout; we usually have a very competitive Seek Exercise Book Trophy race and we usually have good entertainment on the day as well. The beauty of the whole day, to me, is to see the smile on the faces of the children walking up and down, getting their exercise books and having a good day,” Baylis said.

Brando Hayden, chief operating officer at SVREL, welcomed the continued sponsorship from Book Empire Limited.

“It is our belief at the Supreme Ventures Group that it is always important for corporate entities to assist in areas that can assist in building Jamaica. No one would argue with the fact that education is one of the single biggest game-changing tools for our nation.

“It is therefore with great pride that I announce our ongoing commitment with Seek for the benefit of our young ones, and we must congratulate them on this wonderful initiative,” Hayden said.