With the inaugural staging of the Mouttet Mile (invitational) last year being a huge success for the racing industry, executive chairman of Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited (SVREL) Solomon Sharpe says this year’s staging of the Caribbean’s most lucrative race day promises to be a bigger and better showpiece.

The Mouttet Mile (invitational), a Grade One event for three-year-olds and upward going over a mile (1,600 m), carried a purse of a whopping US$125,000 (J$18,000,000) and the remaining races on the programme had purses of $1 million and over, which made the race day the richest in the English-speaking Caribbean.

However, according to Sharpe, organisers are upping the ante this year with a 20 per cent increase to the total purse of the Mouttet Mile, bringing the total purse value to US$150,000 (J$22.8 million). This is the largest purse for a single event offered at Caymanas Park.

Along with the historic Mouttet Mile set for December 2, 2023, there will also be the renewal of the Chairman’s Plate worth US$25,000 to be staged over nine furlongs and 25 yards for qualified horses at the Overnight Allowance level.

“The horsemen put on a great show last year, and the punters came out and roared in the stands. That passion that they showed tells us that we are doing the right things, and they have said that as long as we continue to move the product in the manner they are going to support us,” Sharpe told the Jamaica Observer during a press conference to launch the Mouttet Mile (invitational) race day, at the AC Hotel in New Kingston on Tuesday.

“You know, what we are looking at doing now is not just fixing that purse on the day, but we have maintained the Chairman’s Cup on the day, and we are also looking at how we fix the purses on the undercard, and maybe there is a third race on the day that will create the Mouttet’s Triple.

“Then we will look at the horse population to see how we can set the rest of the races on the card because it is all determined by the computer telling us what horses we have on the ground and who is in active competition, and then we set a greater undercard, but it is going to be an awesome day for the whole horse racing industry.

“On the day after our partners at TOBA (Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association) will more than likely be having their sales, so things are going in the right direction for horse racing, and I think this set-up in the purse shows that. We have some atmosphere; we have the greatest fans, and our US$150,000 is going to feel like US$150,000,000 at the end of the day because we are going to put on one hell of a party,” the executive chairman further stated.

In addition to the purse increase, Sharpe revealed the possibility of having the Mouttet Mile (invitational) race run under lights.

“Who knows, the Mouttet Mile this year might actually run under lights. We have been doing a lot of work; we are doing a lot of work behind the scenes, and we slowly but surely will see it come to fruition. We want to end up with probably 11 or 12 races, but we don’t have enough sunlight.

“So in my travels, I have been hitching behind the scenes as we want to continue to do the whole revolutionising of the track; of the product; how we interact with our consumers; how we interact with our horsemen; how we interact with all our stakeholders; and fingers crossed, that we will be having a Mouttet Mile under day and night because if I have my way in the next six months we will have lights at Caymanas Park,” Sharpe affirmed.

The Mouttet Mile takes its name from its main sponsor, Paul Mouttet, chairman of Trinidad and Tobago-based Zodiac Caribbean Ventures Limited, currently the largest shareholder of SVREL’s mother company, Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL).

“The Mouttet family is proud and excited once again to plant our name at the prestigious event. Our belief in the product has led us to increase our support so that a bigger purse can be offered for the trophy race.

“The belief in the Cayamas Park product is that we are going to play our part and continue to create more of these memories at the park. We have faith in the progress of the promotional company, SVREL, to deliver an unforgettable racing experience,” said Paul Mouttet, who was speaking via virtual platform.