Horse racing looking for a silver bullet

Two thoroughbreds come to mind when I think of the waste that is about to take place tomorrow. I refer to the much acclaimed saviour of horse racing in T&T, the Caribbean Nations Racing Challenge. The two thoroughbreds are not Jet Sam and Young Turnabout. In fact, as far as I know, you would sooner see a cock drinking hot tea than see them at horse racing. The first thoroughbred is Lloyd Best. He once told me that “you should not waste trump.” What he meant was that you should invest your resources, scarce and limited as they are, only when it is likely to get maximum return. 

And the quote I remember most from the other, Pat Bishop, is “you have to do the work” (aka there are no shortcuts). Tomorrow’s fiasco should have been called In Search of a Silver Bullet. And unless there is a horse named Silver Bullet running in    the mile and a half, none will be found. Shoe shops need shoes. Pizza parlours need pizzas. And horse racing needs horses. Saturday is about sizzle. And you can’t have sizzle if you don’t have the steak.

Dennis Ramdeen
Via e-mail