Cliff Williams

Today's 28th staging of Red Stripe Beer-sponsored Superstakes Day is significant in many respects and may very well epitomise the positive and negative aspects of the local version of the Sport of Kings.

The fact of the matter is that today's events is taking place against a background of uncertainty in terms of sponsorship, as the beer company is slated to review its relationship with the promoting company.

When the idea of having a weight-for-age and sex handicap allotment three-year-old and upwards race was conceived nearly three decades ago, it was hailed as a revolutionary development, and so it has turned out.

With horses from Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados being eligible to compete, the event was to be a catalyst of sorts for the integration of thoroughbred racing in the English-speaking Caribbean.

Less attractive

For a few years, many owners and trainers from those Eastern Caribbean territories found it possible to participate, but as time wore on, prohibitive traveling expenses made the idea less attractive.

All was not lost, however, as the rich owners found that the acquisition of Jamaican-bred bloodstock at reasonable prices could take them into the winner's enclosure with some frequency in those jurisdictions.

For the first decade or so, the race was staged in the first week of the December. When Chris Armond became Racing Secretary in 1989, he decided that early November was a better time.

The Caribbean Classic was also set for the first week in December and with this clash of dates, owners of capable horses had to make a choice as to which was the more realistic option for likely success.

The change of date then made it possible for owners to take advantage of both possibilities, but it is taking forever to produce a horse capable of being competitive in the Caribbean Classic.

Superstakes weekend has never really failed to live up to expectations in terms of the promotion, because of the high-profile sponsorship, the competitive race programme and the Annual Yearling Sale. The problem though is that interest has waned in the Sale, although it still gets significantly important support from a couple of Eastern Caribbean investors.

Precipitous decline

There has also been a precipitous decline in the general quality of the racing product due to lack of major investment in the breeding industry over time. The more favourable regime for the importation of bloodstock has not had the expected impact both in terms of quality and quantity and there is a dearth of top-class races.

The local version of the Sport of Kings has been struggling to maintain viability in the face of serious competition in the gaming marketplace. The infrastructure is in need of reconstruction, which can only come from new investment.

None, not even the most pessimistic administrators of the then promoting company and the regulatory bodies as well as the owners and trainers of the day, could have envisaged that three decades on since the inaugural staging the Superstakes, there is no modern racing plant and a flourishing promoting company.