The Philippine Racing Commission yesterday ordered the transfer of races from San Lazaro Leisure Park to the Santa Ana Park in Makati beginning today, two days after the night races at the Cavite tracks were canceled due to “technical difficulties.”
But a top horse owner and perennial stakes winner told The STAR that the Manila Jockey Club Inc., which operates the SLLP, has incurred huge debts to the United Tote of America (totalizator system and betting machines provider) and Global Versatech, Inc. (GVI), the local service provider, forcing the latter to pull out its service that led to the cancellation of Tuesday and Wednesday’s night races.
“The MJCI can’t pay the computer service provider that’s why there were no races for two days,” said the horse owner, who asked not to be named.
Racing fans were at a loss after races were canceled for two days, which also meant huge revenue losses for the government.
This prompted Philracom chairman Ferdinand “Joy” Rojas II to order the transfer of races to the Santa Ana Park starting tonight up to Sunday “consonant to the existing agreement between the two clubs (MJCI and Philippine Racing Club Inc.).
Rojas said that “it was not in the best interest of the racing industry for races to be canceled or disrupted in any way,” hence the decision to change the venue.
In canceling the races, the MJCI management announced that this was due to “technical difficulties with the servers.”
The servers mentioned are those that compute the wagers for the pari-mutuel betting system.
The MJCI has been previously reported to have contractual disputes with UTA and GVI, which also provide the same services to the PRC.
The standoff culminated Tuesday night when the betting matrix allegedly was not fed to MJC servers, preventing wagering from taking place, leading to the cancellation of races.
MJCI is now said to be concluding the negotiation of a new contract with GVI, for the “refurbishment and upgrading of its facilities.”
Just recently, races were canceled for a few days after horse owners refused to declare their horses unless the then Philracom chair Florencio Fianza stepped down. – Dante Navarro