Dear Editor,

I refer to the letter by a horse owner captioned "Has this new track been recognised by the horse racing authorities" (2l.ll.0l). He says he has been restraining yourself for a long time concerning the Georgetown Turf Club. First of all, the owner of the so-called Georgetown Turf Club is yours truly Michael Sims, one of the top breeders and owner of the biggest stable in Guyana. And also the owner of the fastest race horse in this country.

We could see from the owner's letter that his interest in horse-racing only lies in the county of Berbice. What about Demerara, don't the people of this county need to enjoy horseracing? About the Horseracing Authority, if it still exists, which I was a member of, it is a disgrace to horse owners and horse racing fans. When was the last time the books were audited and the President attended a meeting?

The past President, Mrs Janet Jagan, turned the soil for the track at Diamond, East Bank Demerara but no one in the racing authority was interested for the idea was to keep horse racing in Berbice, where all the parties involved have an interest in the race-tracks that are privately owned.

The government should be honoured to know that a citizen of this country in this hard economic time when people are scared to invest could take on this venture for the racing fans in this country.

The sponsors of this sport should know that this race track intends to give them their mileage and the management will take this sport to the 21st century, not only for the horse racing fans in Guyana but also tourists that will be spending their holidays in this country.

Our next horseracing meets will be on Sunday November 25, 2001 and Boxing Day, December 26, 2001. We are proud to mention that the Boxing Day meeting will pay the largest purse money ever in Guyana. And this race track was only started this year, compared to Berbice that was there for over forty years.