Horse racing is not a priority sport, says Minister Ramson Jr

By Brandon Corlette

While the horse racing fraternity has been anticipating the return of horse racing in Guyana, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr, has disclosed that his Ministry does not regard horse racing as a priority sport.
He noted that sports are categorised into core and non-core categories, and horse racing is more in the entertainment line.

“It’s not that I am excluding them, (but) I am focusing on talent development and building people. For me, it’s about developing the talent of young people,” Ramson said during a recent visit to East Berbice (Region 6).
Justice (retired) Cecil Kennard, a horse racing organiser of long standing, told this publication in a recent interview that the horse-racing fraternity would meet with the Sport Minister and discuss the safe return of horse racing, in a meeting that is tentatively set for some time in May.
“The meeting will be to get guidance from the Minister as to when we can start planning for race meetings. We cannot fix a date until we get an opinion from the Sport Minister. He will indicate if we (need to) wait a little longer. I don’t want to run a race meeting until it’s safe,” Justice Kennard explained.
While the horse racing fraternity remains hopeful, the long-awaited return of horse racing will take longer than expected.

“You have to keep in mind that when you do horse racing, you will have a large gathering of people that will be coming for many reasons, leaving aside the gamble reasons. I don’t want to be involved in a situation where the Ministry is partnering with an endeavour that becomes a super-spreader activity. That is not something that sends the right message,” Ramson said.
“As we get out of COVID, horse racing becomes more interesting in terms of an objective for the Ministry to see how we can be able to assist. My priority is talent development. I want young people (to) have a sensible vehicle, and the Ministry… the right policy and the allocation of resources so that we can focus on talent development,” the Minister explained.
“Horse racing has its own crowd and its own interest; and a lot is associated with gambling, and I understand that. But, for the Ministry, right now it’s how we get people back into sport, back into activity. How do we reform a lot of the associations as well as our youth programme and our cultural activity? That is where my attention is right now,” Ramson explained.
According to the horse racing organisers, the horse owners have been asked to remain patient as the organisers continue to battle for the safe return of races. The last organised race in Guyana was run off in February 2020 at Rising Sun, West Coast Berbice.