Galloping goats ready for Taste of Buccoo

After an absence of two years, goat racing returns to scenic Buccoo, Tobago, on Easter Tuesday.

However, it will not be the full-blown extravaganza that has enlivened the seaside village for more than 90 years but a scaled-down version called A Taste of Buccoo.

The event, scheduled to begin at 11 am, is being held at the Buccoo Integrated Facility.

Veteran goat owner/trainer Neil Potts applauded the decision of the area’s representative Sonny Craig to host the event this year.

Had an intervention not been made, he said, it might have been the end of the Buccoo Goat and Crab Race Festival, one of Tobago’s signature cultural events.

“We are very grateful for the race because if we didn’t have any race this year, I really don’t think I would have been running and a lot of guys who would have been on the same scale as me, they would have sold out their animals,” Potts, 54, told Sunday Newsday.

He said goat owners were deeply affected by the shutdown of the festival owing to the covid19 pandemic.

“That was really hard. It was not an easy time for us. Knowing that the pandemic was something new that we were facing, it was very challenging.”

There was some speculation that the event would not have been held for a third consecutive year after its main organisers, the Buccoo Village Council, issued a statement saying it would not host the Goat and Crab Race Festival over the Easter weekend.

Its decision came less than one week after the Prime Minister announced on March 26, the removal of safe zones and covid9 restrictions in most sectors.

In its statement, the village council’s PRO Winston Pereira said owing to the “late notice of the repeal of the national covid19 health guidelines,” it will not be able to host the event.

Pereira, in the release, also absolved the village council of input in any other “comparable activity that may be held in the neighbourhood throughout the Easter weekend of 2022.”

Rather, he said, the village council had already started organising for the “thrilling return” of the festival in 2023.

Craig, who had acknowledged the council’s position, said he felt impelled to host a scaled-down version of the event after listening to the concerns of goat owners and jockeys, many of whom had suffered financially as a result of the shutdown of the event over the past two years.

In a television interview, Craig said, “We were out of the loop for two years…The goat race is a dynamic business because we are dealing with livestock, we dealing with a product that is not entirely indefinite in its ability to sustain itself.”

He added goat owners, just to survive, were selling their animals “because they depend on this event yearly to keep them going."

“It is fairly lucrative but it’s only a one-shot event basically.”

Craig said there was a significant cost attached to maintaining the animals for the festival for an entire year.

Potts, who has been involved in goat racing for about 35 years, said taking care of the racing goats was costly.

“We basically have to mind these animals, which are kept for running purposes only. Most of the animals that are racing, you have to carry to the vet to alter them so that they can run without any hindrance.”

He added, “Because of that there is no way they can reproduce and make young ones. So, when covid19 came in, it was really hard on us because we only minding animals not knowing when the virus will end, minding them not knowing when we would have raced again.”

So grave was the situation, Potts said the goat owners approached former chief secretary and Buccoo/Mt Pleasant representative Ancil Dennis for assistance with funding to upkeep the animals.

He claimed Dennis did not come to their rescue.

“So, we had to mind our animals on our own. This year would have been three years.”

Potts praised Craig for responding to the cries of goat owners.

“We let them know that if we didn’t have the race this year, it not possible that it will have a race again because a lot of the guys sold out their animals.

“Goats are not animals you could just put down and take up when you are ready. They get old. So those that were in A-class, the majority of those animals have already been sold and some of the others were also sold.”

He said some of the seasoned goat owners now have just two animals.

“I normally have goats in every class but now I only have three.”

Potts said he is excited to return to the track.

But there is a setback that he hopes will be resolved by Tuesday.

“One of my jockeys pulled a muscle but I am hoping that he will get better. I am hopeful that I’ll be there.”

Potts said three of his goats will be competing in the A, C1 and C2 class events. He explained the A race is the highest of the classes while the C2 and C3 classes are for first-timers and second-time runners, respectively.

An acting lifeguard supervisor with the Division of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation, Potts comes from a family of goat owners and trainers, whose names have become synonymous with the event.

Having been an avid sportsman in his youth, he said he gravitated naturally to goat racing.

“My brother had some goats but he was not taking very good care of them and I had some. So, I would carry them in the bush and let them get good feed and then I started training them myself.”

Potts, who lives in Canaan, claimed he won many of the races when he started competing in the Buccoo Goat and Crab Race Festival and the Mt Pleasant Sports and Family Day on Easter Monday.

“From the day I got into goat racing with my animals, I started winning races and it was like a jealousy in itself because people wanted to know where I come from. I was normally a sportsman and I like training hard. So, I believe my hard training paid off.”

He said he was also lucky to have had some good jockeys, over the years, including Andy Cox, Anthony Horsford and cousin Leroy Kerr.

Potts said preparing a goat for the event takes tremendous effort.

“It is not easy. It is a lot of work. You have to know what you are doing.”

He said one must look for a specific breed of goat.

“You want a goat that can run with an athletic built. The legs must be strong, not lean. When you get something like that, you tell yourself you have something that you can work with so the training will start.”

Potts said to prepare a goat for a race, the trainer must first hold the goat closely by its collar and walk it in a straight line.

“They should then go on long walks to get it accustomed so when it is running, you will get it to run as straight as you can.

“You must try to lead it ahead of you and get it to pull the rope because that is what you want on the race day. You don’t even have to use a whip. If you could use the rope on its back, you can get it to accelerate.”

He said jockeys could use any “legal” method to get the goat to accelerate during the race.

“That is important because it is what will get it closer to the finish line faster than anything else. That is what you are looking for.”

Potts said he took his goats out for a long walk at 3 am on Tuesday, “putting them ahead with me chasing it.''

“If possible, people can also jog a bit because you want it to get that fitness so on the day it could be able to run at least three to four races because if it wins after the three races there is a champ of champs for all the winners so the goat will have to go into a final race.”

Potts urged visitors and Tobagonians alike to support the event.

A Sports and Family Day, hosted by CMB Community Enhancement Group, precedes A Taste of Buccoo on Easter Monday at the Mt Pleasant Recreation Ground.

The event, which is scheduled to begin at 10 am, will also feature goat racing as well as athletics, novelty races and an Easter bonnet parade. It is expected to feature performances by Jahmelody, Garda Knight, Marvin Lewis and others.