The glory days are over

The weekend of the running of the Superstakes and the annual yearling sale conducted by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association has traditionally been the most exciting weekend of our racing calendar.

Over the years, various sponsors used this weekend to promote their products and to express appreciation to their customers. I recall that the weekend was even celebrated overseas with the New York Racing Association promoting a 'Jamaica Day' at their Aqueduct Racetrack, where the Superstakes was telecast to the racegoers.

We had overseas riders and jockeys competitions. There were parties, frivolity and a good time was had by all. Sponsors got full satisfaction from their participation and all stakeholders looked forward anxiously to this exciting weekend.

This year, we have the excitement of the clash of our three-year-old Triple Crown champion - MARK MY WORD, and the seasoned older campaigner - THE GUV, in what must be one of the most exciting races of the year. Surprisingly, the promoting company has done NOTHING to fuel this excitement. It is beyond my comprehension that "... a board made up of independent, well-thinking individuals ... a very hard-working team ... where the chairman is a racehorse owner and breeder, one of the directors is a breeder, owner and trainer, another a former racehorse trainer who are obliged to carry out the stakeholders mandate ..." could allow such an opportunity for an excellent promotion to go unutilised, unless they are guided by the expedience of short-term financial advice.

This only reinforces my view that the management decisions being taken by the current board of Caymanas Track Limited (CTL) is leading the company into certain bankruptcy. The financial advice on which decisions are based is flawed and the current performance of the company emphasises the need for an urgent review.

Takeout

The vexed question of takeout from the betting dollar seems still to be totally misunderstood. The deputy chairman took this writer to task for his comments in a recent article and I stand unrepentant in the comments made in that article. What CTL needs to do is to increase revenue - not take decisions on takeout which reduces revenue.

The Chen See board was well on the way to implementing far-reaching measures to achieve almost a doubling of revenue - commingling with overseas tracks, telephone betting, bookmakers placing bets directly into the CTL pool, reducing take to achieve a higher 'churn' effect, etc, etc. The effect on takeout from the betting dollar is not rocket science - the more you give back to the punter then the more he spends, and the greater your revenue and, therefore, a higher return.

The letter to which the deputy chairman refers in his broadside at me spells out all this in great detail. The attempt to compare pari-mutuel payout with lotteries is not a correct analysis - they are totally different in concept and opportunity for turnover. Let us look at the figures and let them speak:

YearTakeout % Average daily sale (J$m)

20073030.21200825 (from June)33.5020093231.90201032 (to end Oct)25.90

This takeout is only reflected in win and place dividends, the other betting opportunities are much higher. The bookmakers have realised the disincentive which these rates are and have increased their payout by 10 per cent. My understanding is that since this introduction sales have increased by some 25 per cent.

On the subject of bookmakers, there must be a coming together of the minds and a greater level of cooperation between promoter/ bookmaker. The mindset of the two bodies has to be more compromising - delayed broadcasting is arrant nonsense. Bookmakers have a gross return of 35 per cent (average) on a product to which they make no meaningful contribution. They have none of the costs related to running a race meet. This has been contentious for years, and with the advent of younger, more enlightened participants, the time is right for dialogue directed at rescuing the racing industry.

Nothing seems to be happening in the area of divestment. CTL's board keeps talking about a two to three-year time frame. WHY? The intention to make the company profitable prior to divestment is a non-starter - CTL will never be profitable. What we need is a committed group to drive the process with some amount of urgency. The ability to remain viable is an illusion.

This column encourages the public to come out on Sunday to the annual yearling sale, which starts at 9 o'clock in the Caymanas Track parking lot, opposite the racing office. Who knows, there could easily be another MARK MY WORD waiting on the lucky buyer.

Howard L. Hamilton, CD, JP, is a former chairman of Caymanas Track Limited and is the current president of Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. He can be contacted at howham@cwjamaica.com.