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UPDATE: Its official, No Easter races for 2013-President Smith-Aaron

- President confirms this news site's previous report of cancellation of Easter races at Tortola’s Ellis Thomas Downs
It remains unclear when the next horse races will be run at Ellis Thomas Downs. St. Thomas is preparing for their Carnival races at the end of April 2013 and many Tortola horses are expected to compete. Photo: VINO/File
President of the VI Horse Owners' Association, Karen Smith-Aaron said a decision has now been made to cancel the Easter horse races scheduled for Ellis Thomas Downs. Photo: VINO
President of the VI Horse Owners' Association, Karen Smith-Aaron said a decision has now been made to cancel the Easter horse races scheduled for Ellis Thomas Downs. Photo: VINO
The traditional Easter races were initially pushed back to April 7, 2013 following the final leg of the recently completed VI Triple Crown Challenge in St Thomas. Photo: VINO
The traditional Easter races were initially pushed back to April 7, 2013 following the final leg of the recently completed VI Triple Crown Challenge in St Thomas. Photo: VINO
Co-Owner of L&B Stables, Violet 'Letty' Hodge had first disclosed that the Easter horse races scheduled for Ellis Thomas Downs had been cancelled. Photo: VINO/File
Co-Owner of L&B Stables, Violet 'Letty' Hodge had first disclosed that the Easter horse races scheduled for Ellis Thomas Downs had been cancelled. Photo: VINO/File
SEA COWS BAY, Tortola, VI – As was first and accurately reported by Virgin Islands News Online on March 27, 2013, President of the VI Horse Owners' Association Mrs Karen Smith-Aaron moments ago confirmed to this news site in an exclusive interview from overseas that the Easter horse races at Ellis Thomas Downs scheduled for April 7, have been cancelled.

President Aaron confirmed she communicated this information to all committee members and all are now aware of this decision. She said the reason is lack of horses both in the VI and USVI as many of the horses are down due to injuries as confirmed by the veterinarians.

Races on races off!

Confusion loomed earlier this week when this news site had already accurately reported the cancellation of the Easter races after speaking to committee member Mrs Violet ‘Letty’ Hodge, who represents the horse owners on the 9-member VI Horse Owners' Association Committee. Mrs Hodge told us this decision was communicated to her by Vice-President Lesmore Smith.

A couple of days later, President Smith-Aaron told this news site that the decision to cancel the Easter races was not finalised as no meeting of the entire committee had taken place.

However, today March 30, 2013 she told this news site that communication had now been made with all committee members and the decision is now confirmed to cancel the traditional Easter races. 

President Smith-Aaron, in her third month as the horse race committee boss, assured the racing fans that St. Thomas had not snubbed the Virgin Islands traditional Easter races as the only issue was “lack of horses due to the many injuries and that this was confirmed by a veterinarian in St. Thomas."

St. Thomas is next!

It remains unclear when the next horse races will be run at Ellis Thomas Downs. St. Thomas is preparing for their Carnival races at the end of April 2013 and many Tortola horses are expected to compete.

The Virgin Islands speed demon and Triple Crown winner Really Uptown aka ‘jet blue’ of the popular L & B Stables and the defending Governor’s Cup holder Good Prospecting from Top Priority Stables are expected to be in the Governor’s Cup.

See previous article posted on March 28, 2013

Easter races not cancelled – Smith-Aaron

President of the VI Horse Owners’ Association, Karen Smith-Aaron has refuted claims that the scheduled Easter Races at Ellis Thomas Downs have been cancelled.

Smith-Aaron has instead stated that no final decision has been made on the outcome of the proposed races.

When contacted by this news site, the President of the local horse racing body said she was first made aware of the situation after reading it on this news site.

“That decision hasn’t been made up to this point,” the President noted, “I’m off island so until I get back, we’re not going to make that decision.”

Mrs Smith-Aaron further noted that the committee has to meet before deciding the way forward and suggested that this will take place sometime over the weekend.

This news site attempted to contact the President as well as the Vice-President of the association previously but was unsuccessful.

Committee member, Mrs Violet ‘Letty’ Hodge indicated previously that she was informed by the Vice-President of the Association, Mr Lesmore Smith that races would be cancelled and expressed disappointment at this.

The absence of horses from the neighbouring island of St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands was previously given as the reason for the reported cancellation.

See previous story posted March 27, 2013:

Easter races cancelled at Ellis Thomas Downs – ‘Letty’ Hodge

- withdrawal of St Thomas horses given as prime reason

ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – Co-Owner of L&B Stables, Violet ‘Letty’ Hodge has disclosed that the traditional Easter horse races at Ellis Thomas Downs have been cancelled.

According to Mrs Hodge, Vice President of the Horse Owners Association Mr Lesmore Smith indicated to her that the cancellation came as a result of the withdrawal of participation by horses from the neighbouring isle of St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.

“What he told me was no horses from St Thomas would be coming… we on our track, can’t even hold races on our own because we don’t have enough horses, so we are dependent on them and once they don’t come we don’t have any races,” Hodge related.

It is unclear how many horses from St Thomas were initially scheduled to participate in the races.

According to Mrs Hodge, the races were pushed back to April 7, 2013 following the final leg of the recently completed VI Triple Crown Challenge in St Thomas.

When asked about participation by St Croix horse owners, Ms Hodge replied, “we would never depend on them, they would never come.”

She explained that the winning purses were too small and it was therefore not feasible for St Croix horses to come to Tortola to participate in races for those types of purses. “They don’t even need to leave St Croix, they have their promoters… they have the works.”

Mrs Hodge said she was very disappointed that the races would not be held especially for the horses that could not travel or participate in races over the past few months.

Attempts to contact President of the VI Horse Owners Association, Mrs Karen Smith-Aaron and Vice-President Mr Lesmore Smith were not successful.

31 Responses to “UPDATE: Its official, No Easter races for 2013-President Smith-Aaron”

  • johnny (27/03/2013, 08:57) Like (12) Dislike (42) Reply
    Why are we taking so long to turn that waste of space into a state of the art cricket stadium?
  • ~The Chair~ (27/03/2013, 09:11) Like (5) Dislike (0) Reply
    I am not surprise to hear that St thomas not coming....Not Surprise at all.......
  • passive justice (27/03/2013, 09:14) Like (5) Dislike (2) Reply
    Poor Johnny and his cricekt dream lol
    • Guest (27/03/2013, 10:08) Like (6) Dislike (2) Reply
      We have learned to ignore him. He is an Internet Troll looking attention....
  • Binocs (27/03/2013, 09:24) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    This is sad!!!
  • joke (27/03/2013, 09:29) Like (8) Dislike (0) Reply
    but i sure bet tola horse will be goin St Thomas for there Carnival race. NONSENSE
    • L&B (27/03/2013, 09:54) Like (16) Dislike (14) Reply
      yea, we going even though they aint come....to buss them a$$!!! for not coming
  • well wee (27/03/2013, 10:19) Like (1) Dislike (1) Reply
    I did not know she is the vice president!!!
    • @@@@@ (27/03/2013, 13:17) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
      she is not tis lesmore
    • zoe (27/03/2013, 16:30) Like (2) Dislike (4) Reply
      we need to get rid of some of them committe members and make Letty the president the rest of them is just pure incompetence...

  • Yes (27/03/2013, 10:27) Like (3) Dislike (1) Reply
    Johnny makes me laugh! He for ever want this cricket field which is not a bad idea but I don't think they'll turn the horse track into a cricket field Johnny. BVI people don't find it quite interesting........and for the usvi ppl ..alyo full of it......don't worry we'll just continue to whop yall "A" double "S".........
  • Chris (27/03/2013, 12:05) Like (2) Dislike (0) Reply
    She is right St croix would never come for that small amount of money... tola is getting way out of control with high cost of living...so how could any one take care of a family.... feed a horse...and build a home with the price of food and gas going up.. not to mention entry taxes.
  • qustion (27/03/2013, 14:23) Like (4) Dislike (18) Reply
    no easter rces ? Is there an NDP curse upon our nation?
  • vip (27/03/2013, 16:32) Like (0) Dislike (18) Reply
    NDP ayo got to do better than this...First easter in modern history without horse race...WOW!
  • WHAT??? (27/03/2013, 16:58) Like (4) Dislike (0) Reply
    What NDP has to do with horse race. There are not enough horses to compete here in the BVI. That is what Mrs. Hodge said. Plain and simple.
  • the rock (27/03/2013, 22:40) Like (3) Dislike (2) Reply
    bring back aruba and his crew..it seems persons was investing when that commitee was in..do the maths fans!
  • Keep Calm (27/03/2013, 23:19) Like (4) Dislike (0) Reply
    Frankly speaking.... I don't think St. Thomas would be interested because their carnival races are just 2 1/2 weeks away or there about. Tuff luck BVI, Get horses so we don't have to depend on anyone!!!
  • johnny (28/03/2013, 08:08) Like (3) Dislike (0) Reply
    So no decision can be made while she is off island? At the last minute people have to wait and hear if these old fleabags will or wont be limping around that uneven track. Disgraceful.

    When we turn that place into a Cricket mega-center people will know a year in advance of all the big matches taking place, people from every corner of the globe will fill that state of the art stadium to see the most famous cricketers hitting sixes in Sea Cows Bay. Ahhhhh Mahhhhn, I can't wait - its so exciting just thinking about it!
  • Virgin Gordian (28/03/2013, 18:08) Like (8) Dislike (4) Reply
    We are delighted that the races have been cancelled/postponed, as we wondered what kind of BVI UNITY we claim to have, when Tortola should be supporting VG Easter Festival. You must remember that VG is empty during Festival time in Tortola and this is the time for Tola to reciprocate. Granted the parade is not as big as Tortola's, but we do need to support each another and that is healthy for all of us. Bring along your swimwear and when the weather gets too warm,go take a dip at the Baths,Trunk Bay, Spring Bay, Savana Bay, Pond Bay, Devil's Bay, Mahoe Bay, and the list goes on and on and on.
    • the rock (29/03/2013, 07:20) Like (3) Dislike (0) Reply
      Virgin Gordeons need to repect the easter season..its a time for reflex on what took part around this time back then..and try to make things right with the maker..well for those who are not that is..come on man we just had to back to back holidays..why not take one of them!
    • .... (31/03/2013, 07:48) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
      The races were actually rescheduled for April 7th, so there would have been no conflict.
  • lord send help (28/03/2013, 19:21) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    Yes, I always thought it strange that the Easter horse races competed with events in VG. However, Virgin Gorda. You have done yourself a great disservice. When you take so long to bring out your line up (A line up we can't even read because the text is so small) then other people plan things that take away from the VG Festival. Even in VG there are a myriad of activities planned that compete with official festival events. So,it's not just the horse race. VG to blame too. Bring us events and a line-up that business are afraid to go up against. And promote the Festival. I haven't seen one poster yet. All I saw was that hard-to-read-poster on Facebook. You can't even get good information from the Festival Facebook page. (And that's free advertisement) So leave the horse race alone and make up your own bed first.
    • Ummm (28/03/2013, 23:40) Like (1) Dislike (1) Reply
      Stop lie.....they promoting the festival for months. You just want something to say!
  • tola (30/03/2013, 18:25) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    VIINO once you say it’s so, we trust you it is…BAM hit the right spot
  • Chris (30/03/2013, 22:34) Like (3) Dislike (0) Reply
    Well..at least they didn't cancel Church...see you guy in church tomorrow...
  • ... (31/03/2013, 07:42) Like (1) Dislike (1) Reply
    You all really foolish to expect st.thomas to come up here 2 weeks before their carnival races you know. Would Tortola go to st. Thomas to run 2 weeks before August Tuesday? I think not. That would be quite silly actually. I know when we use to have good races on our own. The fact is that both Tortola and St. Thomas are short on horses. Did you all see their race card for the 3rd leg of the triple crown? It was poor.
  • facts check (31/03/2013, 18:18) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    Hasts off again VINO dem cant beat you on first and accurate ooooooooooooooooooyea


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