Fortunately, horse racing in Jamaica has had the benefit of reasonably well-informed managerial decisions on a sustained basis. However, this sport/business, with its huge potential for economic viability, driven by its capacity for entertainment, has only survived as a subsidised gaming product. This, because, having flourished for three decades under the British handicap system, it was subjected to the worst business decision ever with the 1993 imposition of the flawed American claiming system format on the racing product. This condemned the industry to certain failure!

Here now is a rundown of the years of the most momentous decisions and important events. The first real opportunity for development of the local industry came in 1959 with the opening of a state-of-the-art facility on nearly 200 acres of Caymanas Estate land through the vision of sugarcane mogul Alexander Hamilton, a great lover of the sport. Incidentally, he was an outstanding owner and, as a breeder who operated his famous Dawkins Stud.

The late Hamilton was president of the Jockey Club of Jamaica and also chaired the Standing Horse-of-the-Year Committee for many years. His gift of the lands led to the design of the large Caymanas track, and an equine complex was an extraordinary development. The electromagnetic totalisator system offered win, place, quiniela, and double event wagering options, as well as a sizeable seating capacity of 3,000, given Jamaica’s population, which was significantly below two million then.

The Betting, Gaming & Lotteries (BG&LC) Act was established in 1962 when the finance ministry recognised there was an exploitable revenue stream in a largely unofficial/illegal gaming market. Therefore, a commission board was formalised in 1975 to oversee licensing, regulate and deploy a team of inspectors monitoring all gaming activities, as well as being fully capable of informing the prosecution of delinquent operatives. Importantly, as well, the BG&LC Levy Scheme funded by bookmakers’ contributions was made available to the breeding industry, and later a revolving loan scheme was established.

In 1965, the first licences were issued for the conduct of bookmaking, with Watson’s Off Course and Track Price Plus emerging as pioneers and industry leaders by offering wagering on English racing six days a week within two years. Backed by live radio commentary on the major stations, RJR and JBC made results instantly available. Wagering on horse racing increased exponentially with this exposure! Points of sales (betting shops) exceeded 600 islandwide, in addition to the promoting company’s 13 OTBs offering race-by-race wagering on the local product.

To replace the Jockey Club of Jamaica, Sir John Mordecai, who became the founding commissioner, was tasked in 1971, and by 1975, the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC) Act, with Canadian and English Jockey Club input, was promulgated. In 1977, the JRC introduced a comprehensive manual of Racing Rules to standardise the necessary regulation of the horse racing industry.

By 1969, with 25-plus sheds, with no fewer than half a dozen major ones, there was a very healthy breeding industry. With a sustainable horse population of nearly 1,200, midweek racing came on stream in 1970. This was revolutionary! There were 29 race meetings in 1960, which was the first full year of the Caymanas operations. It peaked at 84 by 1992, with averages of 115 runners per race day contesting between 11 and 12 races under the hugely viable classification handicap system.

In 1989, through the instrumentality of the then Finance Minister Seymour Mullings, he facilitated the launching of a digital tote with the capability of capturing 100 per cent of the available sales. Long lines to place bets at the track disappeared immediately, and this naturally had a dramatic effect on the sales turnover. Betting options more than doubled to accommodate exotic wagering, which delivered substantial profits in 1992. Also, prior to this, the booking-making industry had a 60 per cent market share. However, by 1992, there was a complete reversal! The promoting company accounted for 60 per cent of the gaming market, with simulcast wagering included in the revenue stream.

The industry was poised for sustained growth, but on January 23, 1993, disaster struck! An influential group of anti-handicapping and anti-bookmaking conspiracy theorists, touting a tote monopoly as well, was able to convince the sitting JRC board of directors that, despite the spectacular growth of the racing product delivered in a handicap system, it lacked integrity and consumer confidence.

Also falsely, that on instituting a claiming system, the trading of race horses would miraculously become a viable economic activity. Nothing of the sort was realistic! It is now 32 years later, and the upshot of this is that industry now faces an existential threat with an eminently predictable expiry date. The expense of owning race horses moves vertically with no immediate relief possible.

Over the 25 years of successive governments’ ownership, the now dormant promoting company, Caymanas Track Ltd, required US$40 million of cash injection, including a tax write-off of $1.2 billion to remain operational. Now eight and a half years after the 2017 International Monetary Fund-mandated divestment to preferred bidder Supreme Ventures Limited, the racing product delivered in the hopelessly defective claiming system is still the major challenge to profitability.