‘We have to bring back’ horse racing in memory of Eileene L. Parsons- Premier
“She was a fixture at the softball games and whenever we would have horse races,” Premier Wheatley recalled during the Special Sitting of the House of Assembly (HoA) in honour of Mrs Parsons on Monday, July 1, 2025.
According to Premier Wheatley, Mrs Parsons “was not happy” that there has not been any horse racing in the Virgin Islands for some time, “and that is something that we are going to have to bring back, certainly as one of our pastimes and in memory of the great Eileene Parsons.”
There have been no horse races at Ellis Thomas Downs in Sea Cows Bay since August 2, 2022, due to an impasse between the Government and one of the landowners, the Thomas family, over price and fair market value, and what the government of the day is willing to pay.
Mrs Parsons wanted gov’t to take land for the ‘public good’
Mrs Parsons had controversially stated in October 2022, that the government should take the land via Compulsory Acquisition or Eminent Domain to save horse racing.
“I say it without apology – I am an advocate for the word towards eminent domain. You do it for the public good.
“Honestly, if I was in there and I was the Minister of Sports as I used to be, I would’ve advocated that because you cannot have the BVI sporting public being held hostage for something like this,” Mrs Parsons had stated.
The then Opposition Leader and now Deputy Premier, Hon Julian Fraser RA (R3), had opposed the idea of the government taking the land from the Thomas family.
In the meantime, horse racing is alive and well in the US Virgin Islands (USVI). The next racecard at Clinton E. Phipps Racetrack on St Thomas on July 5, 2025.
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