The fate of live horse racing on Saturday, July 15 remains in doubt after stakeholders in the local horse racing sector rejected a $27-million purse increase offered by the local promoting company Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited (SVREL).

Owners, breeders, jockeys, trainers, and grooms will not nominate their horses for racing as a result of the stakeholders’ rejection of the suggested purse increase during a lively meeting held at Caymanas Park on Tuesday.

Patrick Smellie, president of the United Racehorse Trainers Association of Jamaica (URTAJ), expressed his and his members’ displeasure with SVREL’s attitude to the purse increase. Smellie went on to say that stakeholders are hurting and that the $27 million rise in the purse is unacceptable.

“Based on a deed signed by us with them [SVREL] from as far back as 2022, it was supposed to be 49 per cent of Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR), which means after their sales and they have paid out to punters, what is left we get 49 per cent and they get 51 per cent,” Smellie told the Jamaica Observer.

“Of the $6.2 billion [according to the regulatory agency, the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Commission (BGLC)] in sales, our percentage would work out to be $168 million, and there is no way we can accept $27 million. That [$27 million] is going to work out to about $6,000 plus per purse, and that cannot help the stakeholders. We want to work with SVREL, but the arrogance and behaviour will not work with us, as you would have seen the guys walk out of the meeting and say no nomination,” Smellie further stated.

The stakeholders have based their rejection of the offer on the purported profit of $6.2 billion made by SVREL, but the promoting company’s chairman Solomon Sharpe has argued that the profit made was actually $5.3 billion.

“Last year, when signing off on a deal, we said that after sales, when you do the payout to the punters, whatever is left from that is where all the bills are paid, but before, if we would even consider any bill to be paid, we would allocate 49 per cent to purses.

“I acknowledge all sales that have happened. There is $5.3 billion that is generated in Jamaica, and anything else is generated outside. The $6.2 that you [stakeholders] have referred to has to be tracked on a weekly basis because we pay taxes on a weekly basis. The $5.3 billion is generated in Jamaica, and we get 28 per cent of that. There is another sum that is generated outside of Jamaica,” Sharpe explained.

In his response, Smellie said: “He [Sharpe] is saying that the sale is $5.3 billion and he cannot substantiate the $800 million difference; we are waiting three months now for them to substantiate that. The guys have walked out and said no nomination, so the next move, I guess, is for SVREL.”

Vitus Evans, executive director at BGLC, stated that they are in discussions with SVREL to verify the sales figure, but he is comfortable with the rationale provided.

“We did get the figure of $6.2 billion from SVREL in terms of their sales, and that is what they paid taxes on. When we were asked for the figures, that is what we gave to TOBA [ Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association]. SVREL has since come back and given us what I considered a possible explanation as to what would have happened.

“They said it was $5.3 billion, but the number they gave us actually included the simulcast numbers within that number that don’t form part of the agreement with you [stakeholders]. I am satisfied with what they said about a possible explanation, but we need the evidence to verify that and to do the reconciliation,” Evans said.

According to Howard Hamilton, president of the TOBA of Jamaica, it costs owners $2.19 billion to get their horses ready to perform at the Park; therefore, the $27-million purse increase is a farce.

“The grooms have just negotiated a more than reasonable increase that will cost us an additional $92 million. To offer us $27 million is extremely unfair, and what we are saying today is that unless we are getting at least $1.2 million added purse money, we cannot continue to nominate our horses.

“If you can’t find it in your revenue, you’ll have to go to the government or find another way to pay that money. We cannot and will not continue to operate in this manner,” Hamilton stated.