CAYMANAS Park's security chief, Jason McKay, yesterday told Racing Along that the message has been sent "loud and clear" after the arrest of a member of dancehall artiste Mavado's entourage was hit with a one-year suspended sen-tence for a fracas in the official car park on Derby Day, June 14.

Nehemiah Shaw is also set to face the court in December on charges of resisting arrest and assault.

McKay, who is also a district constable with the St Catherine South Division, is the chief executive officer of McKay Security, which handles security at the sprawling facility.

Despite having to work with a third of the staff deployed at the track as far back as 1997, McKay said he's determined to maintain discipline at the island's lone racetrack.

Although starting out with a hard-line approach, which drew the ire of the professional bodies and patrons in the mid-1990s, McKay Security has since tempered its approach, earning the trust of patrons and personnel at the racetrack.

The relationship among security personnel and the professional bodies - trainers, grooms and jockeys - has improved significantly as a result of mutual respect.

Culture of indiscipline

However, it was a long road as what McKay described to Racing Along as a "culture of indiscipline" was rife, a situation which threat-ened to rear its head on Derby Day.

In 1996, a grooms' riot resulted in 12 of the backstretch men being banned for a year, following what was described as "unlawful and violent conduct at the racetrack".

Another incident, the 2000 showdown with patrons, who insisted a man should not have been arrested for smoking ganja in the stands, resulted in the pre-mature end of a race meet.

On another occasion, jockey Shane Ellis being searched in the lead-out tunnel, after refusing to accompany McKay to the stewards' room, further enhanced the firm as a no-nonsense operator.

Despite taking a softer approach, McKay yesterday said this does not mean slacking off.

"As I said, as far back as 1996, discipline must be maintained and I hope those looking on will understand after the Derby Day incident," he said. "That was our biggest raceday of the year and we could not allow it to be tainted by the actions of a few."