New facility needed at Santa Rosa Park

For far too long we in the media have been fed excuse upon excuse regarding the facilities.

Since 1994, things at Santa Rosa Park have hardly changed, although we hosted a Clasico Internacional del Caribe.

President after president in past news conferences have been telling us things are turning around, and “it will be better next year.”

One can well remember ex-president Gerard Ferreira stating that he was working towards making Santa Rosa Park the Mecca of horse racing in the Caribbean.

From Derek Chin, to John O’Brien, to Ferreira and now Kama Maharaj as president, we are still all waiting for the change to come. Now Trinidad and Tobago Racing Authority chairman, Chin and his committee have a tremendous job on their hands to get things in ship shape.

The present Grand Stand is shameful to say the least. What we have is nothing short of a cow shed.

No where in the world owners and their guests, radio announcers and reporters have to bolt for cover when rain falls.

Seats in the Grand Stand leave a lot to be desired, many of them without back rest and have become hard on the anatomy

Some years ago, Brian Stollmeyer drew up a beautiful blueprint of a new Grand Stand facility, and the sod was turned by President George Maxwell Richards, only to have it shot down because of a technicality with the lands which the race track occupies.

Horse racing locally has also taken a deep plunge in respectability, since gone are the days when owners and trainers led in winners, replete with jacket and tie. Nowadays owners and their trainers wear anything, and “proudly” wave to the crowd as they lead in winners in real carnival ole mas style.

On another note, the horse population, which is now on the increase I must say, also leaves much to be desired.

There are many horses going to post nowadays which should have been retired years ago, many of them repeatedly failing the pre-race veterinary test week after week.

Then there is the question of the turf track which cannot be used every time a little rain falls (not so at the Queen’s Park Savannah, the “Big Yard”).

With respect, Mr Maharaj, Mr Chin and the rest of your committees, it is no sense we keep harping on lack of money.

Both gentlemen named are astute and successful businessmen and know that to succeed in any sphere of business, you have to spend money to get.