Ruth Smith-Sutherland (left), general manager of the Jamaica Racing Commission and Commissioner Hugh Levy (second left),p jointly hand over the Hall of Fame Trophy to Millicent Lynch (second right), CTL's acting CEO Walford Brown. - CONTRIBUTED
THE ANNUAL 'Hall of Fame' Raceday will be held at Caymanas Park on Saturday, May 27 and will feature the JRC Walkstacle over 200 metres and the $500,000 feature for the Hall of Fame Stakes Trophy over 1200 metres for open allowance horses.
The press launch of 'Hall of Fame' Week took place last Friday afternoon at the Winchester Road offices of the Jamaica Racing Commission. The activities will climax with the 'Horse of the Year' dinner on June 1 at which five new inductees will be announced. This will be held at the Hilton hotel, New Kingston.
Caymanas Track Limited (CTL) in association with the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC) will present the 11-race programme. JRC's general manager, Ruth Smith-Sutherland and CTL's executive manager for marketing Millicent Lynch made the announcement jointly at the launch.
According to CTL's racing secretary, Denzil Miller Jr., betting will be conducted on the Walkstacle with proceeds going to the St. Catherine Infirmary in Spanish Town.
The Walkstacle will be contested by JRC staffers along with CTL personnel and representatives of the racing associations.
Seven of the races will be named in honour of past 'Hall of Fame' inductees, including four-time champion jockey Charles Hussey, currently the leading rider; veteran trainer Sydney Watson, groom Toyannel Winter and the late handicapper Leslie McCrea.
HALL OF FAME STAKES TROPHY
Miller further stated that the status of the Hall of Fame Stakes Trophy has been upgraded this year. It is now a Grade II event for open allowance horses.
Secondary feature will be the annual renewal of the Ren Gonsalves Cup over 2000 metres (overnight allowance) in memory of the two-time champion trainer (1971, 1972) who was also chairman of both the Jamaica Racing Commission and Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission in later years.
Also on the programme will be race number five in the CTL Claiming series along with the JRC Jockeys' Training School Race. It was also announced by the JRC chief vet Dr. St. Aubyn Bartlett that electronic identification (micro chipping) of horses will soon be introduced in Jamaica.
This will come on stream in January of next year and will cost the same $1,000 that is paid for the present means of identification - lip tattooing.
Dr. Bartlett said while there are currently four ways of identifying horses at Caymanas Park, micro chipping will ensure that when a horse is identified there can be no doubt as to who that horse is.
"What we discovered is that with the lip tattooing, when the numbers are affixed they tend to fade after a time. And sometimes because of human error you do find that the numbers are incorrectly positioned or placed. We want something that will not facilitate any human intervention.
-O.C.
