Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited, which organized the Dec. 7 Mouttet Mile from Cayamanas Park in Kingston, Jamaica, wants to revitalize Thoroughbred racing in the country.
The group thought big and getting the race into millions of homes across the United States is even bigger.
SVREL invested millions of dollars to elevate aspects of Caymanas Park, which opened in 1959. Among those upgrades is a new high-definition video board and a change in the track's tote company to AmTote. Arguably the most significant move is the one that led to SVREL joining forces with the New York Racing Association.
"A former employee of ours, Joe Longo, made the suggestion of potentially televising it. And thankfully, we've got just terrific partners at FOX who are really invested in horse racing right now," said NYRA chief revenue officer Tony Allevato. "They loved the idea. And said, 'Yeah, let's give it a shot. See what it looks like and what we can do with it.'"
Fox Sports, NYRA's broadcasting partner, televised last year's Mouttet Mile in the race's second year of existence and returned this year. Logistically, it's not the same as hosting "America's Day at the Races" from Saratoga Race Course or Aqueduct.
"Anytime you're doing an overseas production, it's much more complicated, especially when you're bringing equipment overseas, having staff go over there to work there; it's a pretty heavy lift," Allevato said. "Regardless of the size of the production, we've been very fortunate that everybody on the (SVREL team) have really bent over backwards to make this as easy as possible for us."
Challenges include getting good data on all of the horses running because some are Jamaica-bred and raced. And for NYRA, getting equipment authorized to come into the country is a bit involved. Once NYRA gets past the elements that are unique to the event, the rest becomes second nature.
"The world gets smaller and smaller every year, so it's no different than if we were to go to Kentucky and televise a race from Kentucky or from Arkansas," he said.
NYRA and Fox Sports sent two of their on-air talents—Andy Serling and Acacia Clement—to Kingston for the race.
"Covering racing is covering racing, right? And good racing—fun days like this—they make it easy because they write the story for you," Serling said. "It's easy to get excited about a day like this, a big crowd, a lot of people having fun. ... It's obviously a different experience than Saratoga, but it's a similar vibe in the sense that you have an enormous amount of people together having a great time, and Jamaicans are as good a racing fans as you'll find in the world."
From an analytical perspective, Serling had to work around not having speed figures, which made handicapping challenging.
NYRA is clearly invested in watching the event blossom and grow into something bigger and more global, which is speaking SVREL's language. Last year's Mouttet Mile Day races were not available to bettors. Allevato said that during last year's broadcast, he heard from a sportsbook operator in Las Vegas who wanted to make sure the races were on the menu in 2024.
NYRA made a cross country pick 5 available featuring races at both Aqueduct and Caymanas Park but betting on individual races from the Jamaica track also was an option. This not only showcased the connection between the two brands but also served to drive attention to the 11-race card in Kingston.
Additionally, NYRA officials said they plan to offer a New York race with an automatic bid to the Mouttet Mile.
"If we could just grow it gradually, then the sky's the limit," Allevato said. "We're coming from a small base which is going to let us grow it pretty quickly and make big strides."
Serling believes the track's grandstand held more fans Saturday than a year ago. There also were more horses than a year ago. Both indicators show greater enthusiasm locally and abroad for the race.
"We saw more American-based horses coming, which is a double-edged sword," Serling said. "They want to get shippers, but it's going to make it a tough one for the Jamaican horses, which is kind of why I like that a Jamaican-based horse (Funcaandun) won the race, so all the horses didn't ship in and take all the money."
How will NYRA determine if this year's Mouttet Mile was a success? There will be two primary measurements, according to Allevato. The first is growing the handle number.
"We'd like to grow it from a handle standpoint," he said "Not just for NYRA Bets, but for the event in general, it's important to mention that when people are watching an event like this on Fox, they are wagering with multiple ADW companies. So we really wanted to grow it for them and make it a bigger a bigger event for them."
The other side of the coin is the production element.
"We're always striving for the shows to get better every year. And that's something we do, whether it's a race that we're doing from Canterbury, Horseshoe Indiana, or Saratoga or Caymanas," he said.
Editor's Note: BloodHorse's coverage of the Mouttet Mile is funded with travel provided by the Jamaican Tourist Board.
