IN 2022, there were 855 races in 84 meetings, 755 in 2024 from 79, and in 2025, with two race meetings lost due to the effects of Hurricane Melissa, the year closed on 753. It is not of some importance, but of fundamental importance that the horse population expected to deliver 79 race meetings in 2026 will do so at an average of less than the desirable minimum of 10 starters per race.

This is the upshot of a lack of investment in the breeding industry, and although the foal numbers may have ticked up in 2025, the overall position, going forward, is likely to remain essentially the same. Truth be told, there are a significant number of five-year-olds and upwards. For example, on August 28 the 108 declarations included 61 such older horses, and it is noticeable that most have not been able to race with the desirable frequency.

As a spectacle, the imported horses contributed singularly. On January 25 the Eileen Cliggott Trophy got the top-class schedule of races underway, with Pack Plays (USA) getting a productive season underway. This was followed on February 22 by Barnaby (USA) lifting the Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited (SVREL) Chairman’s Trophy and therefore established a pattern where local breds struggled against the advantageously handicapped importees throughout 2025.

In the Ian Levy Trophy, run on the fifth of May, Barnaby followed up his previous success with victory over two-time 2023-24 Horse Of The Year Atomica. To underscore the dominance of the US importees, the third renewal of the Clovis Metcalfe Trophy went to six-year-old mare Desert Of Malibu (USA).

Next up was the Eros Trophy on the seventh of June, when the finishing speed of the favourably weighted Tiz Toz (USA) got up in time for the win. Then, on July 12, almost five weeks later, in the Jamaica Racing Commission Thoroughbred Racing Hall Of Fame Trophy, it was the turn of
Wall Street Trader (USA) to complete the US-bred Graded Stakes clean sweep of the first six months.

The third renewal of the She’s A Maneater Trophy was staged on July 26, and victory went to the 2024 and Mouttet Mile hero Funcaandun (USA). Then on the 23rd of August, in the Distinctly Irish Trophy, three-year-old Girvano (USA) made full use of a huge weight advantage to defeat stable companion Funcaandun (USA).

Graded Stakes Open Allowance activity was absent in September and resumed on October 4, in the Phillip Feanny Gold Cup, when Legacy Isle (USA) delivered a fighting winning performance in a competitive finish with Rideallday (USA). Even though the US-bred dominance was interrupted by locally bred Mojito’s return to form in taking the Jamaica Cup on November 16, on the same day the Port Royal Sprint went to Rideallday (USA).

On December 6 the $14-million Bruceontheloose Sprint Trophy went to Of A Revolution (USA), and the $45-million Mouttet Mile was won by Rideallday (USA) with local-bred Mojito in tenth, behind nine of the importees. The consolation, of course, is that the breeder of Mojito, the first locally bred horse to finish, is credited with a bonus of $1.8 million. Then, to cap things off, on December 27 the Christopher “Chris” Armond Memorial Trophy was the sixth win from 10 local starts for Legacy Isle (USA).

For colts, the 2000 Guineas winner was Sensational Soul, the Derby and the St. Leger, were secured by I Dream Again, and for the fillies the 1000 Guineas went to Burning Hedge, and Linguist won the Oaks. The fact of the matter is that none of these winners achieved a rating to allow for competitiveness at the Overnight Allowance level. The obvious conclusion is that, factually, in terms of ability, the foal crop of 2022 is the worst in the history of the local breeding industry.

For the better part of four decades this writer has had the remit of preparing and presenting annual reviews of certain aspects of the racing industry for broadcast, print media entities, and the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC) Yearbook. Since 1993 when the decision was made to market the racing product in the seriously complicated and therefore flawed American claiming system — defects of which have now been confirmed by the US Jockey Club — there has never been a year when growth in any area of the local industry was ever achieved.

From this column, it is my sincere wish that the stakeholders have a prosperous new year. Despite the vertically moving expenses associated with the support of the thoroughbred population, the hope is that they will continue to subsidise the continuation of the industry in 2026. Next, I will review the 2025 performance of the JRC, SVREL, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, and the United Racehorse Trainers Association of Jamaica.

Readers of this column are familiar with my insistence that optimism concerning the future of the local racing industry has no basis.