Mauritius Horse racing is doomed March 2023

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Some 200 employees in the horse racing industry, including the Mauritius Turf Club (MTC) and MTC Sports And Leisure (MTCSL), are anxiously awaiting their fate. The decisive vote which will ratify the future, at least in the short term, of the bicentenary club in the organization of races in Mauritius will take place this afternoon.

The members of the MTC are invited, on this Friday, to an extraordinary general assembly which will decide, for the very first time in the history of the MTC, on its participation in the horse-racing activities of the country, which was the sole organizer of 1812 to 2021. The members of the club will thus have to decide on the future, at least in the short term, of the MTC, the sole shareholder of a bankrupt MTCSL.

The two resolutions on the agenda are: to decide, given the financial, contractual and regulatory circumstances of the MTCSL and the current financial situation of the MTC, whether the latter should continue to financially support the MTCSL to organize the races in 2023 and, to give any mandate to its representative(s) to apply the resolution thus voted to any board of directors of the MTC and to any meeting of shareholders.

"We can't go on..."

Hours away from the vote, indications are that the MTC would no longer be supporting the MTCSL financially this year, which would mean that the MTC would not participate in the racing season which starts on March 18. Members will also learn today about the terms of the “cost sharing agreement” proposed to the MTCSL by the People's Turf (PTP) for the maintenance of the runway. For an influential member of the club, this document risks having no influence on the vote of the day, since, “financially, the MTCSL will not be able to organize the races this year” . He even goes further: “Even if the members vote in favor of the races, we will not be able to continue!”

With 18 days only, due to the presence of the PTP in the horse racing circuit since last year, the debts, which amount to more than Rs 100 million, are likely to accumulate more and create a situation of no -return if the MTCSL starts at the start of the 2023 season. Moreover, the president Gavin Glover expressed his incomprehension regarding the reduction in the number of days in his letter of convocation to the members.

The non-renewal of the MTCSL lease for the use of Champ-de-Mars by COIREC due to a delay in the procedures (which Gavin Glover rejects) and the new conditions imposed for a new lease also deprive the MTCSL of a “racing organizer” license two weeks before the opening of the racing season.