President Ali must force the enactment of the Horse Racing legislation

Aug 21, 2025 Sports

HearMeOut

President Ali must force the enactment of the Horse Racing legislation

Rawle Toney

By Rawle Toney

Kaieteur Sports – It has now been four days since 19-year-old jockey Kishawn Periera tragically lost his life in the penultimate race of the Guyana Cup at Rising Sun Turf Club.

However, not one word has come from the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. Not even a line of condolence from President Irfaan Ali, whose own stable was lauded as the event’s winner.

This silence is deafening and very concerning.

People might ask, why does it matter? Well, the Guyana Cup isn’t merely a race, it’s the country’s most significant sporting spectacle after the CPL, boasting a millionaire-dollar purse and nationwide attention. That platform demands accountability. A tragedy of this magnitude cannot be met with silence.

Sadly, horse racing is inherently dangerous. The risk is baked in circumstances where even in perfect conditions, fatal incidents can happen at any moment. But statistics from abroad remind us this isn’t rare nor isolated, even in well-regulated contexts.

Consider Michael O’Sullivan, a 24-year-old rising star in Ireland who fell at Thurles on February 6, 2025 and succumbed to his injuries on February 16, days before his 25th birthday.
In April 2025, at Japan’s Sonoda Racecourse, 43-year-old Kosuke Matsumoto was killed when his mount went berserk. These incidents occurred under stringent regulation, where safety protocols are in place and enforced, but where heartbreak still finds a way.

Here in Guyana, the Horse Racing Authority Act was passed by Parliament in April 2025, originally tabled last December, and gazetted on May 9, 2025.

President Irfaan Ali

This critical legislation was meant to usher in licensing, term limits for stakeholders, fair competition standards, animal welfare regulations, and enforcement mechanisms to protect jockeys, horses, and the sport’s integrity.

But at the sport’s showcase, the Guyana Cup, none of those protections were visible in practice. Jockeys reportedly flagged concerns about the muddy, fading-light track, but they were ignored.

The fatal consequence? Kishawn’s life ended on that compromised surface.

Now, the law formally exists, but only on paper. Its continued absence of enactment leaves us exposed to another unsettling reality, underground, unregulated racing is likely to proliferate, its hazards multiply, unchecked.

With President Ali’s direct involvement in the victory stable, one might have hoped he would publicly affirm his commitment to regularising the sport, using his political capital to enforce the Act. Instead, silence prevails.

This is not a call for weakness, it’s a demand for leadership. The government should have immediately responded, offering condolences to the Pereira family; ordering an independent inquiry; using the Horse Racing Authority Act as the legal foundation to investigate and hold negligent parties to account.

The danger of horse racing doesn’t absolve accountability, it demands it. That young jockey’s death was not merely a tragic occupational hazard, it was preventable. His cries of concern were ignored. Poor conditions were permitted. That is negligence.

Horse racing deserves better. Jockeys, who risk everything every time they mount, deserve better. And Periera’s family, they deserve justice, clarity, and accountability.
If this law is not implemented, and if those in power continue to remain silent, we will see more tragedies.

Regulated sport comes with oversight and it is the only way to honour lives lost, protect futures, and preserve the sport’s integrity.

The time for quiet contemplation has passed. Guyana must act, and act decisively.

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Guyana Cup, Horse Race, Jockey, Kishawn Periera, President Irfaan Ali, Rawle Toney, Rising Sun Turf Club

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