By Cliff Williams, ContributorON THE 29th December, 2003 the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC) will commence its 32nd year as the agency charged with the responsibility of controlling and regulating the legal horse racing industry in the island thus making it fully 31 years since replacing the 1905-established Jockey Club to perform those most important of functions.
The then Finance Minister, David Coore, contacted a team of experts out of Canada in response to the development of the industry which by 1970 had grown to such proportions, that the Jockey Club, manned by volunteers, could no longer perform effectively the regulatory functions, which are really quite complex and needed full-time professional attention.
In fact, the terms of reference of the Canadian racing experts included the investigation of complaints made by aggrieved persons against what was then deemed the unsatisfactory provisions for the settlement of appeals and other matters handled by the Jockey Club.
It was out of the intervention by the Minister and against the background of the recommendations by the Canadians that the JRC was established and mandated to govern, direct, control and regulate the day to day operations of horse racing in the most uncompromising manner possible.
In its three-decade history, the JRC has now developed a well chronicled reputation for an uncompromising approach to dealing with the incidents of corrupt practices. Dennis Lalor, who occupied the position of JRC chairman between 1978 and 1989, took the position that a zero-tolerance approach was the best policy in regulating the industry.
More often than not the punishment meted to those found guilty of indulging in corrupt practices was described as draconian as the Lalor administration virtually took each opportunity to send a strong message to the would-be offenders and there can be no question that this approach has redounded to the benefit of the industry.
STRONG TEMPTATION
Truth be told, the gaming aspect of horse racing provides strong temptation for those seeking to gain certain advantages and who are not averse to resorting to illegal means in so doing.
The decade of the Lalor administration was therefore very important, in that an image of a JRC that was strong, capable and prepared to act decisively to protect the integrity of the racing product was enhanced, thus building on what founding chairman Sir John Mordecai had been able to achieve in his six-year tenure.
Recently, I dealt with the matter of the officiating of the raceday stewards as this is one of the most sensitive areas of the conduct of a race meeting, and although one does not always agree with their ruling it is beyond question that they have been doing a good job and in the overwhelming majority of instances their decisions have been sound.
The other area where the JRC has been outstanding is in the testing for prohibitive substances despite financial constraints. Generally, over the last decade the players in the industry have been demonstrating confidence in the testing procedures and in most instances the findings cannot be challenged successfully.
A programme established to allow for the controlled use of raceday medication was launched on the 5th of April of this year and has had a tremendous impact in controlling the problem of bleeding. The statistics have been quite impressive and to date approximately twenty eight per cent of the horse population have benefited with about fifty two per cent of the trainers availing themselves of the facility.
JOCKEYS TRAINING PROGRAMME
In 1980 the JRC established the Jockeys Training Programme and followed up with instituting the Racing Industry Insurance Scheme (health, life and personal accident coverage for permit holders) in a clear demonstration that it is concerned with human resource in terms of development and welfare.
Some of these achievements are quite revolutionary and from this column, its congratulations to the management and staff, past and current, of the JRC for its tremendous effort and consequent success in the full development of a credible organization capable of regulating with "fairness, transparency and compassion."
