The following is a letter received from Dr Paul Wright, owner and breeder, on the recent disqualification of four horses by the Jamaica Racing Commission in a race run on November 2, 2021.

An article in last Friday’s edition of the Jamaica Observer’s Supreme Racing Guide caught my eye. It was headlined ‘Racing Commission disqualifies four horses’.

Apparently, during the first race held at Caymanas Park on November 2, 2019, four of the horses that were duly entered and competed in the race were deemed by the authority, Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC), to have been ineligible and should not have been allowed to enter and compete in the race.

The findings of the JRC were explained in the article, and then I read this: “A horse which has been disqualified shall, unless his placing has been altered by the stewards under rule 244, not be entitled to any prize money and, if any cup or money shall have been paid to the owner or his representative before the disqualification it shall be REFUNDED BY THE RECIPIENT”. (My emphasis).

A back story is important. As I understand it, the race was run on a Saturday. A trainer, while going through the results on the following Monday discovered that there were horses that ran in the race, which, by the stated conditions of entry, were ineligible to race.

He voiced his concern that week to those with responsibility for putting together the conditions of races and the trainer was informed that he was mistaken.

The trainer insisted and he was informed to put his objection in writing. The trainer did that and, fortunately, copied the JRC.

Nothing more was heard, although, to his eternal credit, the trainer kept asking questions. Eventually, on the September 23, 2021, 22 months later, the “case” was heard. The result: The horses were, in fact, ineligible and should never have been allowed to compete in the race. The persistence of the trainer on behalf of all the stakeholders and the racing public brought justice.

But, What about Naomi? What about those who made the error in conditions, and what about the JRC stewards who were on duty on November 2, 2019, and whose job it is to make sure that all the T’s are crossed and the I’s dotted before approving the entrants? Nothing. Nada, “ah nuh nutten”. Who will now be asked to pay the price of incompetence? The owner or his representative.

Ainsley Walters, The Gleaner’s racing writer, and Carolyn Cooper, a distinguished linguist from The University of the West Indies have, for years, begged, pleaded, and beseeched that, when communicating to Jamaicans in Jamaica, the message is conveyed in such a way that can be understood by all. The conditions for entry into most of the races on offer at Caymanas Park on any given race day require a degree in English (with honours) up to the level of Masters to be fully understood.

Now that the JRC is aware of the difficulty in interpreting the conditions of entry for races every race day, it has decided that the only ones who should pay are those owners and their representatives who entered their horse and assumed that those who wrote and vetted the entrants, knew what they were doing.

As my friend who is in Jamaica learning English would say, “Sum ting wong.”

Dr Paul Wright

Owner and breeder