Trouble shipping horses leads to August races cancellation
President of the Horse Owners Association, Lesmore Smith.
Challenges in shipping racehorses into the territory are among the reasons the annual August Tuesday races have been cancelled, the BVI Horse Owners Association has said.
Association president Lesmore Smith told BVI News the horses that were slated to compete next Tuesday were all being shipped from Miami in the United States.
“The horses weren’t able to travel due to circumstances beyond our control,” Smith said.
He said the available local horses that survived the 2017 hurricanes were not fit enough to compete because they had not undergone any training for almost a year.
But Smith told BVI News there were other reasons the August Tuesday races were cancelled.
When asked to divulge those reasons, Smith declined to comment.
“It’s more than I can mention. It’s more than I would want to mention. I will leave it simply at that,” he said.
The Smith-led Horse Owners Association had worked feverishly to put on the annual races this year. They had rebuilt the Ellis Thomas Downs horse stables that were destroyed during the hurricanes.
They also made a number of preparations to get the racetrack ready in time for the now-cancelled event.
“Most of everything was ready but there are some difficulties … I do apologise [for the cancellation]. It’s not that I didn’t try but I can’t go further than I can go. I can’t do more than I can do. I can’t create anything more than I have created so that’s the situation,” Smith said.
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Really? Anyone with sense knew that this was a gimmick.
Could not organise a piss up in a brewery
The de———-r is at it again.
If not telling the truth was a crime then he and his ndp gang would have been put away for life by now.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it is a duck. This is what it was and now is…an attempt to mislead.
Even to the horses are being lied on in the BVI to try to make him and his ndp look good. Let them run around the track on racing day.
Let us see a race between. Walwyn, Fahie and Frazer. This should be good.????????????????
frazcar by 3 lengths
Can’t be trusted
P———- cant be trusted and thats why nobody.does take h– on.
This m– and is gang are clowns. I knew it would never happen. I told my friends so from he made the foolish announcement.
How about looking after the horses you already have? Poor things are going days/weeks in this weather without water still let alone food and proper care.
A cruel event as many have commented on before so for the sake of the horses that are forced to run in tropical heat I am relieved they won’t have to face that this year! It should be banned anyway and hopefully this is the final nail in a mis guided attempt to bring Ascot to a small Caribbean Island where gambling is supposed to be banned!
Ok Theresa
@Sam the man. So the BVI is too hot horses? What about those Arab nations? Some of the best racehorses are Arabian desert horses. What about our other Caribbean regions which have successful horse tracks? Trinidad and Barbados are closer to the equator than the BVI yet both have these programs. Climate is not the issue here. Care, commitment and good organization is key!
If you want to stoop to the levels of humanity treatment that the wealthy Arabs dish out even to their poorly paid human workers then go for compromise and slavery – I thought the BVI was better than that – it should be
Dude,plain and simple,no one is going to let their horses go to Tortola to get F***ed up on that not prepare track.