Odds-on reality: Time to fix the handicap

Last Saturday, the 2026 World Vet Day was celebrated in some style, when the promoting company, Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited (SVREL), in tandem with the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC), formally introduced the cohort of new generation operatives, with their personal introductions and brief citations circulated and conveyed over the company’s closed-circuit television (CCTV) system.

No doubt, the legacy of the previous generation’s legendary practitioners with the revered pioneering and globally acclaimed Thomas Lecky (1904-94) and figures like Hall-Of-Fame inductees Clifford Grey and Clifford Bradford, as well as long-serving members of the fraternity, including Aston Marsh, St Aubyn Bartlett, and Sophia Ramlal, is well preserved. Going forward, one can be confident that, given time, the emerging young professional veterinarians will, individually and collectively, deliver distinguished tenures of service.

This renewal of the World Vet Day Trophy was featured on Saturday last and attracted 12 declarations, including Supernatural Power (USA). This four-year-old grey filly was fourth to Horse-Of-The-Year,
Rideallday (USA), in last December’s US$350,000 Mouttet Mile and raced to respectable second-place finishes behind the 2024 winner Funcaandun (USA) and to said
Rideallday (USA) in the Ian Levy Trophy this season.

After 1-5 favourite Supernatural Power (USA) strode over the eight-furlong gallop in a time of 1:35.3, coming home 13 lengths ahead of her nearest rival. Conditioner, former 14-time champion Philip Feanny, in his post-race interview, described the weight allotment of 121lb in this field as “ridiculous”. Not only that, but these farcical races have a negative impact on the sales turnover. Be informed that there are only two types of bets offered by the promoter: win, and or place, and both are affected negatively by odds-on favourites, which are unattractive wagers.

The fact of the matter is, for 33 years, the non-recognition of the importance of the weights carried in the races is the primary reason the racing product delivered in the claiming underperforms to the tune of an easily quantifiable 20 per cent in the gaming market. The punters understand the importance of handicapping and the nuances of how it drives wagering, but obviously, the relevant operatives that matter do not appreciate this dynamic.

As I have pointed out over this period, it is not claiming tags that is the source of the problem, but the artificial classification of the horse population divided into 19 categories, which results in inferior horses conceding weight to superior horses. Also, with races having to be offered for sprinters, middle, and long-distance runners, ever so often, entries have had to be reopened, with trainers requested to declare horses that they had no intention of nominating initially.

Also, and more importantly, another upshot of this is that there is a disproportionate number of races with odds-on favourites discouraging wagering. In SVREL’s first three years of operation (2017-20), the 2,299 races had 1,095, in 2025, the 755 races had 389, and this year, by April 26, the 251 races had 113 odds-on favourites in a never-ending money-losing reality that should be concerning.

Also, it is interesting to note that in the first three years (11-03-17 to21-03-20) of the SVREL operation, to be more precise, there were 286 even money favourites in the 2,299 races as well. There has been no reversal of this trajectory, and to compound matters, in 2022, the calendar had 855 races, and in the aforementioned 2025, it was 755 as the horse population continues to decline.

The responsible operatives of the SVREL Board, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, and the United Racehorse Trainers Association of Jamaica continue to be unresponsive to the fact that, after 96 years, the US Jockey Club’s industry regulators have determined that one of the main reasons for the progressive downward spiral, (40,000 foals in 1990 to 16,000 in 2025) of their breeding industry is the delivery of the racing product in a complicated and virtually incomprehensible claiming/condition system.

The claiming/condition racing product model is in a format where even the very names of the races confuse the average customer. In response, from October 2025, the US Jockey Club has instituted a system of classification, the impact of which has had an important impact, in that field sizes have improved significantly in a matter of a few months.

Claiming tags are still in existence in the US, but trainers and owners now know the converted mathematical ability and, consequently, value of their horses in this effective simplification. Still, in this regard, further action is required to give horse racing a realistic chance to compete for attention in the global multi-billion-dollar sports gaming market. The other products on offer are understood much more straightforwardly and therefore have superior marketability.

The impact of the odds-on favourite rendering the races underperforming as sales units can be mitigated if the SVREL’s Programmes Committee abandons the monthly projection of races with pre-determined weight allotments. After nominations, this would comply with the 1977 JRC Rule #33, where weights should be allotted by the Handicapping Committee based on the assessment of each horse’s ability, merit, and performance.”

Jockey Raddesh Roman (left) explains his ride aboard Supernatual Power to trainer Philip Feanny on Saturday, April 25, 2026. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)