Charmaine Subratie, chairperson of the Jamaica Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Foundation (JTHF), has lauded her organisation’s fund-raising event as a huge success, stating that it will go a long way towards assisting the racing industry’s needy horsemen as well as the retired racehorse aftercare programme.

The JTHF fund-raiser was held at the Jamaica Officer’s Club at Up Park Camp on Monday, February 5, 2024.

While the figure was yet to be finalised, Subratie said that the support from the horse racing community was second to none.

“The foundation was started for basically two reasons. One, to assist horsemen in need because there are a lot of needs at Caymanas Park, and two, to bring them together. What I had found out is that once they are retired, they have gone their separate ways, and there’s nothing to bring them together to reminisce or share thoughts — things like that,” Subratie told the
Jamaica Observer’s
The Supreme Racing Guide.

“I had watched a programme where the analyst said that when a sportsman retires he dies twice, and so I thought about the retired jockeys, and I said I think they are dying and I want to do something to bring them back alive, and so that was one of the motivating factors behind this.

“The support has been very good from the horse racing community and the international level as well because we have Shaun Bridgmohan, the winningest jockey out of Jamaica. Bridgmohan is a part of the foundation, and he pledged his support, and when he goes back, he is going to do some work to help us get some help, some gear and equipment for the men and women at the track here,” she further stated.

Subratie indicated that this fund-raiser will be held on an annual basis since the horsemen who have committed their lives to the racing profession have made invaluable contributions to the sport.

“We just want the support to make the grooms, the backstretch guys, the jockeys, and all horsemen happy. We want to assist them, and whatever they earn, they can use it for important things, because we will be supplying them with all kinds of equipment, such as boots, water boots, and raincoats for the grooms. So they will have resources left over from whatever they earn.

“It will be an annual thing, and every year we plan to invite an international jockey down, and Bridgmohan will be helping us with that, as that is his portfolio. He is our ambassador abroad, and he will decide who comes next, as he already has two big names for next year’s staging, and we are looking forward to having one of them,” she noted.

Bridgmohan, who had recorded his 3,400th career victory and his first on home soil aboard
Fearless Soul on Saturday, February 3, was the guest speaker at the JTHF’s fund-raiser.

The Eclipse-winning jockey stated that he believes JTHF deserves the most recognition for putting out a wonderful product to support people who are truly the backbone of the racing industry.

“This organisation is for the people who stay with them [horses] and spend the most time with them. I get to have fame and enjoyment because of these people, and this is a wonderful organisation that I am trying to present, and it is for a really good cause. These are people for whom it has become a lifestyle; it is not a job; it is seven days a week taking care of these animals. It is unbelievable what they do,” Bridgmohan said.

Former champion and top jockey George HoSang, who represented the Jamaica Benevolent Foundation, expressed his satisfaction with the relationship between JTHF and the Jamaica Racing Commission to promote the retired racehorse aftercare programme.

“The horses are bred by their breeders; they are then sold to their owners, and owners turn them over to their trainers; the trainers enter them onto the racetracks, and we, the jockeys, get all the fun of riding them,” HoSang said.

“Now that their [horses’] racing careers are over, most of the mares are turned to the breeding shed, a handful of colts will stand at stud, and now there are a bunch of other horses that don’t fit the breeding programme.

“Now these horses, sometimes the owners are very caring; sometimes it is the police; sometimes it is the riding schools; and sometimes they are not taken care of. Sometimes they are neglected and abandoned, and so this is the main reason why I am here to share the Jamaica Benevolent Foundation, and we are affiliated with JTHF and hope to have a very fruitful relationship as we are onboard with them,” HoSang added.

Dr Sophia Ramlal, senior Jamaica Racing Commission veterinarian, said that she is in full support of the vision shared by the JTHF to provide help for the needed horsemen and retired racehorses.

“In the horse racing world, we often say aftercare is not an afterthought. We have a responsibility to our stakeholders, horses, and humans to prepare for their retirement so that when the time comes they will transition to other careers or just retire from the sport with some dignity.

“The JTHF’s fund-raising event is one of those events that tries to bring focus to how we can go about doing that through partnership. We recognised that this is the needed model if we are going to be able to sustainably support the stakeholders in the industry,” Ramlal said.