With racing placed on indefinite hold, the strain in well and truly on for racing professionals.

Owners have the burden of footing the bill for the keep and care of the over 1,000 horses stabled on at Caymanas Park.

The Supreme Racing Guide checked in at the Park and spoke with some trainers to see how they were coping.

TRAINER – PHILLIP ELLIOTT

The present situation without is challenging to cope with, but there is a larger picture. I can put personal disappointments aside and understand, but it would have been on the partial side if we were able to continue as other sports had to take a pull. What I am particularly disturbed about was that the Sunday race meet never went through following all the plans. That one hurt quite a bit as it fell on my birthday. I had nominated a horse as I wanted to have a runner on the day. I thought if they had allowed owners to come into the Park, where we have a lot of open space, where they could spread out, stations could have been placed at different points to allow them to come in. But because they did not allow them to come in, it put a lot of pressure on the off-track stations. At present, I have four horses under my care, two of which I own, and I have to take care of the two I own and seeing that I put in a lot of work, work which other trainers may not do, I think it will cost me between $3,000 to $4,000 a day per horse.

TRAINER LOUIS RICHARDS:

I own and train my three horses. I think the promoter could step in and share some of the costs with the owners and trainers until racing returns.

The expense of each horse per month will run me about $60-70,000 because I buy special things for them, plus I also have to pay my grooms. Up to this morning (Wednesday, March 25), I visited the stands, and everywhere was locked. You could not go anywhere in the stands. Even though you wanted to use the bathroom, you could not go into the bathroom. That is a disgrace, and I cannot understand. We cannot stop this COVID-19, it has to run its course. I am firm with that. The mighty USA is trying, and they still cannot stop it. The government has said that it is spending over $25 billion, so the promoter should ask for a tax cut or something to assist owners and everyone directly involved in racing. A racehorse is a delicate racing machine, you have to give them lots of water, or they will catch colic if you just feed them and have them locked up in a stall. You cannot take a horse and put him in a little 12×12 stall and expect him to stay in there, the horse has to move up, and down The cost I gave is an estimated one because I give my horses seven/eight different vitamins each day. I take care of myself, so I take care of the animals in the same way.

TRAINER FITZROY GLISPIE

At present, I do not have a lot of horses. I have only five horses under my care. Right now I cannot give you a figure as to costs, I will have to sit down and add up individual costs to provide you with an amount for the day, but it should be in the region of $30,000 each week.