Government has finally given the green light for night racing to brighten up the Garrison Savannah after a nine-year wait.
President of the Barbados Turf Club (BTC), Sir David Seale, made the announcement yesterday minutes before the start of the 37th running of the Barbados Gold Cup.
Sir David said that under Section 18 of the Town And Country Planning Act, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart had “under his authority granted permission to the BTC to erect floodlights to facilitate racing at night.”
Sir David said it was projected that the first racing night would take place in November.
“The Garrison is a World Heritage site, making it necessary to have approval from the world body,” he said.
The Prime Minister later explained the process which led to the approval of the BTC’s application for night racing at the historic venue in an exclusive interview following the presentation ceremony.
“The application was made because The Garrison is in Barbados’ inscription area. I decided that wisdom prescribed that we should check with UNESCO in Paris to make sure that we were not doing anything that was beyond the scope of our authority,” Stuart said.
“I advised the Turf Club to make the appropriate application [and] that it would be given the support of Government. They made the application. It was appropriately supported by the Government and UNESCO approved, so I am very pleased to know that night racing will be a reality here.”
The Prime Minister, who is also the Parliamentary representative for St Michael South constituency, which encompasses the surrounding areas of the Garrison, said interest in the sport of kings should be reignited with the go-ahead.
“I think it will do a lot to restore the fortunes of the sport and the Government is pleased to have been a part of this,” Stuart said.
Sir David indicated that night racing should see an increase in the BTC’s revenue streams with additional betting and lead to owners acquiring quality horses.
“The [BTC] directors are confident that night racing will be attractive to visitors and will increase attendances, which in turn will increase betting revenue, and I sincerely hope that these increases, will allow us to purchase horses of a higher quality than we have at present,” he said.
Sir David thanked a number of persons, including Minister of Sport, Stephen Lashley as well as the local World Heritage Committee under the leadership of then Chief Town Planner Mark Cummins, for making night racing possible.
He also lauded planning consultant Richard Gill, who completed an intensive application booklet to satisfy the needs of the World Heritage body. (EZS)
