Dear Editor,
There seems to be madness in horse racing and unless the administrators of various clubs can forget their differences, come together and cooperate with each other, the progress which had been made in horse racing will soon be erased.
In January of this year the administrators of the six horse-racing clubs met and agreed on the racing dates for the various clubs for this year (2010). According to that schedule there was a gap of at least two weeks between race meetings. This was an ideal situation as the horses would have been given some time to rest between race meetings. However, certain differences arose among the administrators and that schedule of racing dates is not being maintained.
In my view there have been too many racing dates within recent times and if we continue at this rate the population of horses will soon be considerably decreased as many of the horses will soon go out of racing through injury and otherwise.
It may be argued that a large number of horses were recently brought into the country, but one must remember that horses, like human beings, need to be rested at times if one is to get quality performance from them.
A point to remember also is that horse racing is not the only sporting activity and the populace would have to find money to attend these events. Also the horse owners will have to find money to enter their horses for the race meetings, bearing in mind that the majority of horse owners are not wealthy persons.
In July we had three race meetings, and in August the same number which, in my view, was too many for two months. For the months of September, October, November and December there is a total of eight race meetings scheduled. This seems reasonable as there are only two race meetings scheduled for each month.
I am, most respectfully, appealing to the administrations of the various clubs to forget their differences and come together for the benefit of the sport. I cannot see why we, as big men, cannot let bygones be bygones and come together and discuss our respective concerns so that horse racing in this country can continue to move forward.
If the feeling is that the executive of the Guyana Horse Racing Authority has been performing poorly, then there can be changes in the executive when the election comes up in January of next year. In the meantime let us reflect and do what we think is best for the sport.
Yours faithfully,
Cecil Kennard
