This disclosure comes on the heels of Government’s recent announcement that it was signing a new agreement for the free movement of horses among the islands that recently took part in the historic VI Triple Crown. Minister for Natural Resources and Labour Dr. Kedrick Pickering, speaking on NDP Radio on March 19, 2012, said the Memorandum of Understanding would be signed as early as next week.

"We as a government we are about to sign the new Memorandum of Understanding that allow the horses to move back and forth between the islands. The memorandum was in place (in 1998) and expired several years ago and had not been renewed and there was some upgrades and additional information that had to go into it. It´s finally complete now and next week we are going to be signing...officials from Puerto Rico are going to come across for the official signing.”

Dr. Pickering also clarified that the MOU did not include Puerto Rico but rather that federal officials in Puerto Rico would facilitate the signing.

President of the VI Horse Owners’ Association Lesmore Smith, when contacted for a comment, said the MOU is something that needs to be kept in place for the islands to continue to have free movement of horses. “It is like having a visa to enter the US territory and they to enter the BVI. There is always a veterinarian on either side whether St. Thomas or St. Croix and whenever they come here to inspect the horses and check the paper work. The veterinarian becomes like the immigration officer. The horses have to undergo certain tests that have to be renewed every six months,” Mr. Smith said.

He also noted that the MOU was particularly important since there is now a stronger partnership with the advent of the VI Triple Crown. “The MOU came about because of the quarantine situation taking place to ensure that no disease is taken back and forth and primarily so it is important for us not that there is the Triple Crown and a stronger partnership has been built through it.”

Mr. Smith said, however, that it is the hope that the MOU would be extended to allow the free movement of horses to other Caribbean Islands. We are looking into the future that this Memorandum could be extended to further parts of the Caribbean and noted that the St. Thomas Horseracing Association is exploring that possibility.

“In the other parts of the Caribbean you see persons from St. Kitts, Trinidad, Antigua, Jamaica and Barbados who come together to do something similar to the Triple Crown. We in the BVI and US can’t travel within those waters because we don’t have a Memorandum Of Understanding with those countries. The MOU we have is just between the US and the BVI. At one point we were thinking of going down to Trinidad for the Gold Cup and other races that are held in Barbados but they would not give us right to travel down to those Caribbean islands because if we do that I don’t think our horses would be allowed back into the US Virgin Islands.”

The first VI Triple Crown saw the spoils shared among the islands as Slevin of St. Croix won the first leg here in Tortola while Bud White of St. Thomas won the second leg in St. Croix and Tortola’s East End Tap won the final leg in St. Thomas.

Mr. Smith also seized the opportunity to extended congratulations to Rodney Simmonds and The Boys Stable for winning the third leg of the Johnny Walker Black Triple Crown Challenge through East End Tap and also reminded horse racing fans that his horse, Good Prospecting, is the holder of the Governor’s Cup.

Good Prospecting had a poor showing in the Triple Crown but Mr. Smith said he has identified the problems and is working on it and said Good Prospecting will be going all out to redeem his crown.

The Governor’s Cup is slated for April 27, 2012 in St. Thomas, USVI.