‘We have some work to do’ says Bernard after Ministry meeting

ARIMA RACE Club (ARC) president Robert Bernard says that the local racing bodies, including the ARC, the Betting Levy Board and the Trinidad and Tobago Racing Authority all have to play their part to ensure that the local industry, also known as the “sport of kings”, can survive in the post-pandemic era.

The local racing industry have been under severe pressure since the covid19 restrictions were implemented by Government in March 2020.

The racing bodies held an hour-long meeting with the Ministry of Trade and Industry on Friday morning, at the Ministry’s office in Port of Spain.

In an interview on Friday evening, Bernard said, “It came off as good as expected. We have some work to do but it’s all part of the process.

“The Government, in fact, has removed the trustee that they had on our land, so now the land goes back to the Arima Race Club, which is a very positive development.”

The ARC recently sold a parcel of land at the Santa Rosa Park, Arima.

Asked if he sees positive signs for the industry locally or does the ARC still need some work to do, Bernard responded, “The industry has work to do, to be viable. People concentrate too much on the ARC. All the ARC does is they are the promoters of live horseracing. But live horseracing can’t stand by itself.

“So, we need to get the support of the other members of the industry. What we really need to do is change our model a little bit, of how we progress in the horseracing industry, and try to make it more of an entertainment component.

“That is something we’ve been working on over the past few months. That is a work-in-progress,” he ended.