By Cliff Williams, ContributorWE HAVE now crossed over into 2003 and as usual it is a time for prognostications and resolutions, but for the racing industry things are likely to remain the same for the foreseeable future unless the resolve by the newly-formed Horsemen's Association in the form of a five-point proposal for development is given a favourable response by the government.
Truth be told, while the Sport of Kings remains as popular as it ever was it is teetering on the brink of disaster with a largely ageing horse population. Declining in quality and viability with each succeeding year, a decline in the promoting company's fortune in terms of sales turnover and infrastructural development, which has been virtually non-existent for about two decades, still has no blue print.
One has to think that 2003 will be the year to begin the kind of development that was envisaged in 1989 by the then Minister of Finance the Hon. Seymour Mullings, but has not materialised with almost a decade and a half of the People's National Party's tenure in office as the government of Jamaica. Specifically "privatisation" was promised then but was never put on the agenda in any serious way, despite endorsement from the Prime Minister as well.
Development takes capital and it therefore means that either public or private resources or some combination of both will have to be identified. At one point there was talk of US$500 million over three to five years as the kind of injection that was needed to make modernisation a reality. For all I know at this point in time, in excess of this sum will be required by the time this project gets underway.
Having come to the country with a new round of taxation measures, it is indeed difficult to envisage how government funding is likely to be made available for this type of expenditure. It would seem to me that the greater portion, by far, will have to be raised privately with investors from overseas participating as well. The question therefore is whether or not this political administration is likely to do anything revolutionary to bring the racing industry into the 21st century. It is now abundantly clear that the government has to act decisively in the interest of the industry.
One thing is clear is that there are going to be changes at the highest level of executive personnel at the promoting company. President and Chief Executive Officer Rosalyn Campbell has already advised the William Chin See-led Board of Directors of Caymanas Track Ltd (CTL) that she will not be interested in renewing her contract which expires on April 19, 2003.
Therefore the top job will be advertised shortly and it will be interesting to see the resume of the candidate who is selected at the appropriate time. When Ms. Campbell commenced her tenure on April 20, 2000 it was suggested that she had limited knowledge of the racing industry and this would be a factor militating against her in terms of performing successfully. In my view nothing of the sort has been the case and administratively she has functioned effectively.
Well, looking at the clauses in her contract I don't see anything in there that makes racing knowledge a prerequisite. As I understand it, as chief administrator she was to basically act as the liaison between the CTL board and its management and to assign areas of responsibility within the organisation and ensure that performance targets are met. In addition to that among other things it was her responsibility to guide and direct the executives on policy matters.
Curiously, Ms. Campbell never seemed to have problems and apparently, with the hugely successful Danny Melville-led Board, performed satisfactorily. It was on the dissolution of this Board and the departure of Melville that the CEO's problems began in earnest and one could almost say that what has transpired since would make it difficult for her to even think about a renewal of contract. More on the prospects for 2003 later.
