JIMMIE SAYS..... Too many races spoil it for all concerned

Close examination of Caymanas Park’s Mouttet Mile points allocation published in the Track and Pools lays bare the quantity and quality of top-class horses available for the racing secretary to pencil competitive events.

The list also exposes what no horseman wants to hear, especially barns with horses classified as Grade One runners, which is the fact that too many races, juxtaposed against number of horses available, are allotted for this category of horses, especially at distances exceeding six furlongs.

A very conservative count - proportionate weight allocations taken into consideration for purposes of varying ability (rating by past performances) — would make RIDEALLDAY, THE PRINCE’S SPUR, GALLANT GROOM, GIRVANO, BARNABY, NAUTICAL STAR, SUPERNATURAL POWER, LEGACY ISLE, and PHENOMENAL POWER nine automatic qualifiers as the country’s best mid- to long-distance runners on current form.

However, this season has 11 races allocated to mid-to-long-distance runners, notwithstanding that GALLANT GROOM and THE PRINCE’S SPUR, both considered highly fancied for the December 5 Mouttet Mile, respectively started their local careers in August and September of this year.

Therefore, backing out GALLANT GROOM and THE PRINCE’S SPUR, only eight horses, throwing in now-out-of-form FUNCAANDUN, could have been considered by the racing secretary for any mid-to-long-distance race when writing top-class races for 2026.

By natural causes, at no point in time could all eight horses be available for any one race going mid- to long-distance, as per the schedule set for 2026, to ensure competitive fields in 11 races.

Therefore, the result would have been predictable before the first race was ever run — small fields, lopsided betting, competition-dodging, field-padding and cherry-picking of races by connections — factors which all negatively affect the bottom line of promoting company Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited.

Sprint races allocated for top-class horses weigh in with six events, according to the list, but far less contenders — foreigners DOTHRAKI, PACK PLAYS, DESERT OF MALIBU, WALL STREET TRADER and PEPPER STEPPER — plus local-breds DON KWESI and CALIFORNIA CROWN.

OF A REVOLUTION and LEGACY ISLE could toggle between sprints and mid- to long-distance, making available, similar to mid- to long-distance, an average of seven to eight horses available for sprint races at the top level.

The main cry among horsemen at Caymanas Park has been for a purse increase. However, what they don’t realise, or possibly don’t care to understand, is that diluting the top class of available mid-to-long-distance runners by staging too many races only serves to compound that issue.

Being extremely conservative, no more than 12 strategically placed Grade One races for sprinters and mid-to long-distance runners, split equally, should be considered for the 2027 racing calendar.

Purses for these 12 races should be bumped up by the ‘excess’ from events shed, encouraging participation from connections who would otherwise be dodging and cherry-picking races to either avoid competition or seek to use the iniquitous ‘conditions’ turnstile, which allows top-class horses to, at times, find themselves as low as overnight allowance, facing local-breds, who have won four lifetime races.

Horse racing is about parity for all involved — owners, trainers and jockeys — hence why some riders are allowed to claim weight based on experience. This equity, equalising of chances to win races, is what spurs betting, not small fields, lopsided betting, competition-dodging, field-padding nor cherry-picking of races.