– Kennard optimistic about hosting meet in March 2021
By Timothy Jaikarran
The Kennard Memorial Turf Club’s annual Boxing Day Meet
has been called off because the National COVID-19 Task Force has not granted permission for the event to be run off.
President of the KMTC Retired Justice Cecil Kennard
Many horse-racing fans have been left disappointed because this event has become a yearly tradition that lights up the race track at Bush Lot Farm, Corentyne, and attracts many persons from all of the administrative regions of the country.
This event is now another casualty of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Guyana.
In an interview with Guyana Times Sport, President of the Kennard Memorial Turf Club, Justice (retd) Cecil Kennard, disclosed how deeply saddened he has been made because the popular event would not be held this year.
“We are calling off the event as we were not given permission to host this event. However, we hope that come next year, if things ease down, we can host another horse meet. We apologise to our supporters and our sponsors, as calling this off was beyond our call. Once the permission is given to us to run off (the meet) next year, we are hoping to run off the first event in March, the second in May, August, and then Boxing Day of 2021, once everything softens,” Justice (retd) Kennard revealed.
Part of the action in 2019
He disclosed that he is hopeful for favourable results (from the COVID-19 Task Force) come 2021, and was adamant that people need to be more conscious of how deadly COVID-19 is and so take the necessary precautions by wearing a mask and practising social distancing.
He also cautioned that if people do not follow the COVID-19 guidelines, the cases are bound to escalate and horse racing may never return in 2021.
Kennard iterated that he plays his part in the fight against the deadly pandemic by encouraging his jockeys, staff etc, to take the necessary precautions, yet keep their horses in a state of preparedness, as once permission is eventually granted, the horses can be race ready.
He has given the media permission to broadcast impending events. “Yes, we at the club are open to that idea. We have the people capable of dealing with this form of communication, but I just want to stress on the fact that we should all observe these guidelines, and I am very optimistic that by next year we can run off.” Kennard said.
