Riding high on the successes of the first two Mouttet Mile (invitational), Gary Peart, executive chairman of Supreme Ventures Limited, is promising that this year’s staging will be an even larger and better spectacle.

The purse for the 2022 edition was US$125,000, which was the largest purse for a single racing event in the English-speaking Caribbean at the time. In 2023, the purse went up to US$150,000, and in 2024, the purse will be $250,000.

This year’s staging of the Mouttet Mile Race Day takes place on December 7 at Caymanas Park. The event was launched at the AC Hotel on Tuesday, March 12.

“We met our objectives, and people were happy. So far, most of our sponsors from last year have come back on board, and most of them are talking about bigger numbers in terms of sponsorships,” Peart told the Jamaica Observer’s The Supreme Racing Guide.

“The director of the Jamaica Tourist Board [Donovan White] indicated that the value of the media recognition that they got was $90 million. I mean, this sponsorship was less than five per cent of that figure, and so I am happy because we spent a lot of time ensuring that our sponsors got the value they deserved, and every sponsor that came on board for Mouttet Mile 2023 got more than they expected.

“The expectation is that you are going to have a significantly more competitive field. I expect more Jamaicans to do something similar to what Rohan Crichton did last year with
Rough Entry.

“They went up to the States, identified a horse, and brought him to Jamaica, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you have at least four or five Jamaicans doing that in 2024,” Peart further stated.

Peart believes that with the Mouttet Mile leading the way, the ecosystem will continue to flourish, eventually leading to local horses competing more effectively against foreign-bred horses.

“The beautiful thing about that is that Rohan [Crichton] and Dennis Smith actually left the horse here to race. The fact that we also have quality horses here means that even though
Rough Entry won the Mouttet Mile, he lost the other against some local horses, where he finished third. That all goes well for the ecosystem because it is improving quality, and we are excited to be the enablers of that process.

“If you increase the local stock, ultimately you will have a local horse that takes it. But fundamentally, if you look at the ecosystem, the majority of the horses were all imported initially from the United States. They take the horses and breed them, and technically the offspring are local, so it is a matter of time before somebody gets a good mare or stallion, and you will have locally bred horses holding their own.

“What drives a lot of this are the purses, and I have also said to people that SVREL is an incentive to increase the purse, but our ability to increase the purse is dependent on how much revenue we earn. So it is incremental, every year we make a little more, and we put more into the purses. You want an ecosystem that can pay for itself. Well, I think it has improved since the Mouttet Mile. I think it has made racing better,” Peart ended.