Cliff Williams

In my column of the May 5, 2006 I dealt with what I deemed to be unprofessional practices which clearly had a negative impact on the punters' enjoyment of the local version of the Sport of Kings.

Seven months later, based on what I observed during the meetings in December last, I have no alternative but to conclude that things have become painfully worse and continue to slide towards further deterioration.

I think that commencing this year the appropriate levels of professionalism should be on display at all times in the racing game.

I raised issues such as the fact that the Caymanas post parade had become the untidiest in the world of organised horse racing. In none of the races that I witnessed last month all the starters were saddled on time.

To the less experienced this may seem to be unimportant, but to the more discerning punter an orderly parade, so that a full comparison of the condition of the starters can be made, is a vital factor in predicting likely performance and consequently the outcome of a race.

There is a deadline for saddling of starters prior to each race but the officials have allowed the trainers to ignore it with impunity and in my view things are now pretty much out of hand.

With this untidy post parade many of the runners just go straight down to the gates without parading in front of the stands, again in contravention of the rule.

Elsewhere in the world this parade cannot be missed without special permission and a horse, unless an official exception is granted, has to canter to the starting gates so that its gait can be witnessed from the stands.

Caymanas punters

Any departure from this or any of the other stipulated procedures is communicated to the betting public in other jurisdictions, but the Caymanas punters are deemed to be not deserving of such considerations.

Having criticised the fact the frequency with which steward inquiries were being held had reached "unbelievably ridiculous proportions with a disproportionate amount of time spent on looking at incidents that have no bearing on the declaration of dividends," it now seems things have been taken to unprecedented levels recently with every apparently minor infraction being scrutinised assiduously.

Instead of identifying the horses involved in any inquiries the stewards still continue to make the over-cautious announcement that they are 'looking at an incident' at a particular point on the track, which is to say nothing really.

I do not imagine also there will ever come a day when there will be an immediate indication that the horse first past the post will not be affected, as is the practice in the British Isles.

From the viewpoint of maximising betting time, this is important as the punters with winning tickets can get on with the business of preparing their wagers for the next race.

Recently, a winning horse was giving the jockey a great deal of trouble on the way to the winners' enclosure for unsaddling and neither the groom nor the outrider came to his assistance. The problem lasted for over four minutes and finally without any help the rider was able to remove the saddle and proceed to the weighing-in.

Last Saturday a race was delayed for in excess of 10 minutes as it took well over half an hour to remove a disabled horse from the track.

The relevant race day staff must respond effectively to these situations, unusual though they may be, with more efficiency.