By V. Lloyd Simpson, ContributorTHERE is no doubt that a vast count of members of the horseracing community, including members of the Grooms Association and presumably a fair number of corporate sponsors, had been elated to hear that the President and Chief Executive Officer of Caymanas Park Limited (CTL), Rose Campbell, has been cleared of the charge of insubordination which led to dismissal from her job.
While on the one hand the outcome has been well received, on the other there are still loose ends which are causing some amount of concern to a number of prominent racing adherents.
These loose ends constitute the apparent reluctance of the Minister of Finance to publish the findings and recommendations of investigator Derrick Lattibeaudiere submitted for action to resolve the issue, as well as the persistent confrontational reaction of the hierarchy of the Jamaica Racehorse Trainers Association (JRTA) in wanting the dismissal to stand.
Dealing first with the Minister's seeming inaction in not publishing the report, I would argue that the situation could have developed from two reasons. He probably feels that the deliberations of the company's board are not for public consumption.
Secondly he may feel legally estopped from publishing them in any event, having requested the investigation for the purpose of availing himself of the attendant facts in order to take a decision.
Whatever is the answer, I have always respected the Minister's readiness not to shirk from taking decisions and not to disregard transparency as a function of his obligation to inform. But sometimes, regard must be had for possible legal consequences and caution required in general when disclosing information, despite the appetite of the public for the washing of linen in public without limit or reservation.
That aspect of my commentary settled, the big question is whether one can expect anything of intrinsic value to come from any action the hierarchy of the JRTA may wish to take to have the board's resolution implemented.
In that context, it is understood that it is the intention of the JRTA to ask the court to intervene by way of an injunction to be followed by certiorari and mandamus proceedings to uphold the board's resolution.
In the meanwhile, it is also doing the rounds in horseracing circles that Miss Campbell is to be asked to sign a new three-year contract with the company, calling not only for her retention in her present position but as a director as well, as formerly obtained.
Any such action would be trifling and totally ineffective in helping the JRTA to get its way. And I suspect, from what I have been led to infer, that the JRTA will be in for a major war with the company if any sort of industrial action is taken.
I would advise the JRTA to take a more temperate stance in the matter, thereby allowing functionaries of CTL to do their work in peace, for the furtherance of the product and to pay more attention to theirs, including some self-regulatory system or the other to reduce the incidence of the malpractice of all sorts that have been having a corrupt impact on the industry.
Again, the support which the harassed chief executive officer is getting from the grooms should be instructive. The trainers should understand that the grooms, acting in unison, could make life very difficult for them if they persist in their apparent resolve to get their way.
A relevant point to be made also, in the context of my foregoing advice to the trainers, is that there is not an insignificant count of trainers who are tired of the fractiousness in horseracing, and would take the same line as the grooms and cut out a hot pace for the hierarchy to follow.
A word to the wise should be sufficient. The subject matter is beginning to be associated with too much allegation of male chauvinism from an abundance of prominent observers who say the CEO is doing a good job.`
