With the celebration of the new year, racetracks from New York to Florida to California kicked off the 2016 racing season. On the island of Barbados, Saturday (January 2) was Day 1 of the 2016 racing season where racing takes place at the historic Garrison Savannah. Racing has been conducted at the Garrison Savannah since 1845 when it was occupied by the British Military. Barbados has only 24 racing days in 2016 so the racing season is extremely short. The highlight of the racing season is the Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup which is held in March as part of a racing festival celebration.
I was privileged to be the guest of the Barbados Turf Club on Saturday at Garrison Savannah and watched an outstanding day of races from the Incitatus Members Lounge. Racing in Barbados is similar to racing in Europe. All eight races on Saturday were run on the turf (grass) course in a clockwise direction at distances from 1100 to 2000 meters. While some of the horses who competed on Saturday were bred in the United States, many were bred in Barbados or on other islands in the West Indies.
Wherever I walked in the Garrison Savannah facility, people were enjoying the racing. Whether you had a seat in the grandstand or stood by food trucks in the infield, there wasn’t a bad location to watch the races. Throughout the Incitatus Members Lounge there were photos of Ken Ramsey celebrating his winning the 2015 Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup. In addition to a large racing operation in the United States, Ramsey is the owner of Kittens Joy, the prolific turf sire who sired Catapult, one of our eight Woodford Racing horses.
For the most part, wagering in Barbados is similar to the United States with one exception. At the conclusion of each race it took 15 minutes for the race to be declared “official” and winning wagers to be paid. Like everything in Barbados, no one is in a hurry! In two races on Saturday a claim of foul was lodged by jockeys at the conclusion of a race. The claims of foul were not announced or displayed on the infield tote board for 10 minutes after the conclusion of the race. I saw more than one bettor searching for a wagering ticket they had thrown to the ground before hearing there was a claim of foul and the order of finish could possibly change!
About half way through Saturday’s eight race card, a buffet of soup, finger sandwiches and tea was served in the Incitatus Members Lounge. In all the years I have been attending the races, I can’t remember taking a break to ladle a bowl of homemade pea soup while sampling a variety of finger sandwiches!
I look forward to returning to Barbados and sharing Woodford Racing stories with the many friends I made on Saturday in the Incitatus Members Lounge of the Barbados Turf Club.
