By Rajiv Bisnauth
A National Sport Commission (NSC) five-member special committee has begun reviewing the draft horse racing legislation, and according to Director of Sport Neil Kumar, the process is expected to be completed in a timely manner.
It is unclear how long the process will take but Kumar said the committee, which is headed by a prominent lawyer, was specifically set up to deal with this specific piece of legislation.
“The National Sport Commission set up a special committee to look at the legislation and currently the committee is in the process of doing that. The committee is headed by a lawyer and they are making a special effort to review the document in a timely manner,” Kumar told this newspaper on Wednesday via telephone.
Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony in a recent interview had said that every step is being looked at to facilitate the likelihood of the passage of the horse racing legislation. The minister had also indicated that the document has to be keenly examined and therefore will take time.
“When we do legislations and take legislations to parliament, there are [a] number of steps. Apart from the ministry agreeing it would then have to go to cabinet, would have to go to a discussion on our parliamentary agenda, will have to find a place there then we have to work to getting it tabled and things like that.
“So there is still a little bit more time and work to be done; we also have to look at what is being submitted to see whether it is capturing what we think needs to be done in terms of horse racing,” the minister has said.
Meanwhile, Guyana Horse Racing Authority (GHRA) president Cecil Kennard expressed satisfaction that some progress is being made to have the sport properly regularised. He said the lack of adequate legislation remains the main reason for the sport still not being properly administered.
“Things are not to the level as it ought to be and people are still doing what they feel like, and we cannot nail them because there is no legislation,” according to Kennard.
The retired Chancellor of the Judiciary expressed that unless there is legislation in place, various forms of indiscretions by many unscrupulous horse and stable owners will continue to plague the sport. The former judge noted that many owners and trainers apply questionable practices to win, which significantly shortens the life span of a race horse.
He also indicated that the other problem is the encroachment of the track by bettors and spectators.
Kennard noted that should legislation be passed into law, the GHRA will impose the necessary penalties on horse owners, trainers, jockeys and even bettors and spectators.
Meanwhile, a few horse owners have expressed the need for proper legislation in order to raise the standard of the sport.
Guyana’s last legitimate racing authority was the Demerara Racing Authority that was located in Durban Backlands. The body once regularised horse racing and outlined parameters for trainers and owners of horses in Guyana, but it became defunct in 1972.
Dubbed the “Sport of Kings”, horse racing, since its resuscitation some six years ago, has been operating under a legal document that was registered under the Miscellaneous Deeds Act.
Mid last year, affiliated clubs to the GHRA decided to set up the Interim Management Committee (IMC) until January last when new elections were held.
Last January, the AGM and elections were attended by the seven race clubs, along with horse owners, trainers and other stakeholders.
The clubs present were allowed to engage in the voting process to reinstate the GHRA in full after a prolonged lapse in the sport’s governing body.
