ROBERT BERNARD, president of the Arima Race Club (ARC) and a member of the Stud Farm Association of Trinidad and Tobago, was disappointed over the lack of buyers at the annual Yearling Sale, which took place on Sunday at the Santa Rosa Park, Arima.
Bernard, in an interview on Monday, said, “We are very disappointed actually in how the sale panned out.”
[caption id="attachment_925762" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Co-ordinators Richard Halfhide (left) and John Rupert, review the day's sales tally, during the 2021 Yearlings Auction hosted by the Stud Farm Association of Trinidad and Tobago and Arima Race Club, Arima, on Sunday. Photo by Roger Jacob[/caption]
Asked if the Stud Farm Association was disappointed in terms of the sale of horses or the turn-out of potential buyers, Bernard replied, “The sale. It had very few buyers.
“We had 29 horses entered in the sale,” he continued. “We had about 15 horses that were withdrawn for some reason or the other, whether they were paid the non-appearance fee. I guess people thought they would not have gotten proper prices for their off-springs and, hence, they decided to go with the non-appearance fee.
“(We) had five yearlings on offer for sale. Three of those two-year-olds were sold.”
[caption id="attachment_925761" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Bennette P Nurse, veteran breeder of Health Horse Farm, with #20 Dream On X, one of the yearlings that was offered for sale to prospective horseracing enthusiasts, during the 2021 Yearlings Auction hosted by the Stud Farm Association of Trinidad and Tobago and Arima Race Club, Arima, on Sunday. Photo by Roger Jacob[/caption]
Bernard acknowledged that the current economic climate, caused by the covid19 pandemic, could have been a contributing factor to Sunday’s disappointing sale of horses.
“With the covid and the local horseracing industry still struggling, we can’t have as many people on the track as we would like, it’s a lot of things going on at this time,” Bernard said.
After two race days since horse racing was allowed to resume in October, how have things been with the ARC lately?
“Due to the lack of patrons we are allowed, because we are operating in a season where everybody who (have) to come in have to be vaccinated, it will have a ripple effect throughout the society,” Bernard responded.
“If people get vaccinated, we can get to some level of normalcy, I think we can improve. But, until that time, we just have to be careful how we proceed.
“It’s not only in our business. Every business we talk to, they are saying the same thing. The whole economy is under a lot of pressure,” he ended.
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