Jamaica’s racing industry held back by resistance to change
As things stand, any attempt to move away from the non-genuine classification to proper handicapping of the horse population so as to yield a more viable racing product is being resisted strongly by the short-sighted elite minority in Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA) and United Racehorse Trainers’ Association of Jamaica (URTAJ).
In forums and discussions with these operatives when I posed the question of what is most important in the racing industry none of the answers included that the economic viability of the promoting is first and foremost.
This fact is not being facilitated by the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC) and Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited (SVREL) by the non-recognition that the weight allotment in each race has the most impact on wagering. This is a gaming product and the perception of the certainty of the outcome of any race is counterproductive to the economic viability of the promoting company. Results are not what matters to a promoting company, only competitive wagering to drive profitability which this claiming racing product cannot deliver.
The punters understand the importance of handicapping and this is why the 755 races in 2024 had 384 odds-on favourites. Further that projecting condition races with pre-determined weight conditions two months in advance, ensures inferior horses concede weight to superior horses. This, in contravention JRC Rule #33 stating that weight allotment must be on the basis of “merit and performance”.
Meaning that for accuracy, handicapping must not be done prior to nominations. Unfortunately, the JRC, SVREL, TOBA and URTAJ operatives with the authority simply do not that these races with odds-on favourites underperformed as units of sales at a rate of 10-15 per cent amounting to a handle of at least around $800 million less for the year.
As I have been pointing out for the life of system in Jamaica it is not claiming tags that is the chief source of the lack of growth in the industry but the artificial classification of the horse population which is automatically in favour of the elite minority. This, against the British Horseracing Authority’s edict, that for viability, the racing product must be operated in the interest of the majority.
Last Saturday marked the 33rd anniversary of the failed claiming system in Jamaica and now in 2025 the 95th year in the USA. Nonetheless, the operatives in the local regulatory and promotion entities continue to operate in a manner suggesting they have not heard of the failure of claiming in the US and elsewhere. Further, that the impending change by the US Jockey Club to a classification of the horse population is effectively a conversion to the handicap system.
The last 33 years has been nothing short of a disaster for the industry in the USA. Hence the Jockey Club has decided that it has to move to the classification of the horse population and this is why. In 1992 there were 70,393 races which declined to 31,746 in 2023. Foals of 1992 amounted to 35,051 but the breeding sheds only delivered 17,200 in 2023. To underscore this disastrous decline or lack of growth, a pari-mutuel handle of US$9.6 billion in 1992 with 255 million inhabitants was only US$11.6 billion although the US population in 2023 reached 345.5 million.
In 1960, the first full racing season at the newly minted Caymanas facility, there were 28 racedays with 238 races and by 1992 it was 84 with 863 races with an average of 115 runners and 11.23 races in each programme. This was an average growth rate of 10 per cent annually or cumulatively 300 per cent in just over three decades of marketing the racing product under the handicap system. By 1992, the number of owners had surpassed 900, and there were 25 breeding sheds producing over 400 foals. However, this number has since declined, with approximately 600 owners, seven breeding sheds, and 200 foals, respectively.
The failure of the claiming system was entirely predictable as it was established on two false premises. Firstly, that a racing product with a 10 per cent annual growth rate lacked integrity and secondly, that the owning and trading of racehorses could be a viable economic activity. The fact of the matter is that a claiming system is complicated and therefore has failed to grow the customer base, which is the common denominator of why any business offering goods, and or services, fails.
Promotion of horse racing with the Government subsidy, which was US$40 million up to the 2017 divestment, is now being provided by the complaining owners over inadequate purse money. I am confident the 33-year-old policy of attacking the messenger will continue unabated. However, I get a perverse sense of pleasure that the surviving chief architects of the claiming system will remain silent in refusing to blame the product as the deterioration of the industry continues with examples like 845 races in 2021 declining to 755 in 2024.