Although there were no thoroughbreds bolting from the starting gate in Vieux Fort on Wednesday morning, the newly built racetrack was nonetheless buzzing with activity. Government officials, representatives of Desert Star Holdings (DSH), the Royal Saint Lucia Turf Club and press personnel were gathered in a conference room at the facility for the official launch of Saint Lucia’s horseracing industry. The track forms part of the larger Pearl of the Caribbean project by DSH. December 13 has been earmarked as the Caribbean Equine Cultural Festival (CECF) Race Day, during which there will be five races, including the marquee event: the US$150,000 Pitons Cup.
Vice President of DSH and Director of the Royal Saint Lucia Turf Club, Eden Harrington, anticipates this industry will impact Saint Lucia significantly. He says that December 13, National Day, will see the first stage of the “nation building” Pearl of the Caribbean project. “Over the ensuing months and years,” said Harrington, “this locale will become a jewel for Saint Lucia and its beating heart will be the Royal Saint Lucia Turf Club, a centre for entertainment and a club with a clear community focus.”
Harrington told the gathering the project has been underway over the last five years. While horse racing is in the infancy stage in Saint Lucia, he acknowledged, the involvement of all Saint Lucians is important. He estimated that more than 200 Saint Lucians will be employed on the race day, predominantly from the island’s south. Hospitality, event management, betting tellers, security, catering and grooms are some of the areas of employment. An estimated US$40 million has been invested in the project thus far—by DSH.
Last Saturday, forty horses arrived at Hewanorra International Airport to participate in the four undercard races. Not since Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem on a donkey has the appearance of an equine caused more commotion. Reacting to rumours that they footed a bill of millions of dollars to purchase, train and ship the animals to the country, the government stated on Monday that this was not the case. The opposition Saint Lucia Labour Party was not satisfied and issued on Wednesday a press release calling for the government to make public the final DSH agreement.
Eden Harrington corroborated the government’s earlier statements: “These horses have been sourced out of the United States. They’ve been purchased by the Royal Saint Lucia Turf Club, exclusively. We’ve had them in training for a year at our expense. We’ve flown them into Saint Lucia with the world’s best carrier, International Racehorse Transportation.”
Looking ahead, he welcomed the public to the inaugural race day. “We thank you for your interest and for your support, and we wish to share with you that we are working tirelessly to deliver an experience on National Day that will make this nation proud.”
Prime Minster Allen Chastanet described the horseracing track as the catalyst and the star attraction of the Pearl of the Caribbean project. Everybody around the star, he said, will benefit. (He probably was not referring particularly to the opposition party’s symbol.) He spoke of real estate opportunities, and making Saint Lucia more attractive as a destination. “Horse racing has the tag-line ‘the sport of kings’ and so it’s some of the wealthiest people in the world that are attracted and are investing in the horse industry,” he said. Chastanet expressed confidence that combining DSH’s talent and track record with the beauty of Saint Lucia will “differentiate the Royal Saint Lucia Turf Club from everybody else”.
Nevertheless, the project does have ramifications for two other facilities in the area: the Beausejour Agricultural Complex and the abattoir, which fall into the Equine Disease-Free Zone. Chastanet stated that both facilities will be rebuilt in different areas. He also emphasized that a final agreement between the government and DSH still has not been reached; what the entities have is a “work in progress”.
The prime minister is hopeful that Saint Lucians will rally around the project and assured that government is going through the proper due diligence. “I think that on December 13, when people see the international attraction that this is going to be, they will start buying more and more into it. There’s never been a project in Saint Lucia that had 100% buy-in from day one,” he declared.
