 Organisers are promising that the 2024 Mute mile will be the best yet. The Mute mile, the English-speaking Caribbean's richest horse race, was launched on Tuesday in Kingston. The Invitational Grade 1 event for native bred and imported 3-year-olds and upward will be held on the 7th of December at Kimana's back. Among the improvements announced is a significant increase in the overall curse, up from US$150,000 in 2023 to US$250,000 for the 2024 staging. A maximum 16 horses will face the starter, with 10 positions reserved for horses based in Jamaica before January 1, 2024. For winners of the Jamaica Derby, Jamaica Cup, Philip Fiani Gold Cup and Port Royal will gain automatic entry. Here's Gary Peart, chairman of Supreme Ventures Limited. So Mute mile 2024, December 7th, that's where everybody needs to be 2023 was outstanding to hit all of our objectives. For this year, there are several things that's going to be very exciting why you should be there. This one is a theme, Wild Wild West, is one of a few costume parties that has been doing very well over the years. Last year it was Kings and Queens and we had, it was a wonderful day for people who came out dressed in costume. There are not many places you can do to do it. So that's another reason to come on December 7th. You know, so come as Lone Ranger, come as Indian, Squaw, come as Tonto, just carry some cowboy boots and set some hats and you feel right in. That's on the entertainment side. As it matters to the horse racing, we've increased the number of entries, foreign entries to six this year. So what that's likely to do is to make the feel significantly more competitive and I think you'll have a great day because on that day we increase all the purses. So all 10 or 12 races are likely to be extremely competitive and there is nothing like betting on a horse and seeing that horse head to head coming down the final furlong and you know that you have a thousand dollars on it with the ability to win 10,000. Excitement, all I say to you, please don't jump up on the tables. All right, rough entry, the imported saurabread, written by French born Jockey Julian Laperoo won the 2023 event and his team is looking for a repeat in 2024. Well, French, as you know, romped the Moutay mile for 2023. And of course, we are here to defend. In fact, we have kept the horse here just to make sure it's fully acclimatized and we are coming back to defend. If not the winning horse, but certainly the winning stable. And we're really looking forward to it. Very excited about what I heard this morning and I know my partners will be. And of course, our involvement in horse racing spans more than Jamaica. As you might have been aware, we ran in the fountain of youth two Saturdays ago. We didn't do as well as we hope, but we are hopeful that we can make a recovery. And certainly our objective, as you all can imagine, is the number one Kentucky Derby. But we give full support to whatever is happening to horse racing in Jamaica. All right. So the Moutay mile 2024, we're already beginning discussions about that. And Lance last year was so good for me, my experience. It has been the third staging of the Moutay mile. I think I would have attended two. So the last one and the one before. The one before would have been the one before too. I had a white dress. So I remember one before would have been the diamond mile. Right, right, right. It was a diamond mile. Yeah. So it has really been a great experience for me. Of course, we were there to work. So we were on presentation duties, Lance. But I think the atmosphere when it comes to the Moutay mile is really pure royalty. It's a lot of glitz and glamour. But what I like about it as well is there is top class horse racing. You get the best of the best. And I think last year was a perfect example of that rough entry with Julian La Perue, you know, doing the business. And this year we're in for a bigger prize money. So I think even the quality of the racing, Lance, we are to expect it's going to be a bigger, a higher quality. Yeah. And last year we had two overseas riders in La Perue from the USA and Kimura from Woodbine in Canada, a Japanese born rider. And I think with the growth of the event as a spectacle and the increase in prize money, there is every chance that more foreign personalities will be involved in the 20, 24 staging. And it is significant to me that the organizers in March are already geeing up the fans for this December 7th event. And that tells you that they're pretty serious. I remember last year because of how successful it was, there was a lot of pressure on Super Inventures Racing and Entertainment Limited to have more events like this annually and not just have this one big event for a year because they were saying it was such a fabulous outing that they're just the appetite to see it happening more than once per year was a narrative coming from a lot of the fans. But it's going to be very special to be quite honest. I never thought in my lifetime that I would see a Caribbean horse race carrying a purse of 250,000 US dollars. That is massive. And that speaks to the investment and the willingness to invest in this quality. I think, you know, the product has created some sort of importance that people are willing to put their money now where this event is concerned. And that's a big win. Yeah. And you know what? Paul Moutet, who is the family, the Trini family. Yeah, the Trini family that pumps the money into this had wanted from the very first year to put the prize money up to this level. But Super Inventures Racing and Entertainment Limited, from my investigations had said, just start more moderate and go big the next year. I think when we had Solomon Sharp here, he said that to us. Yes. They wanted to start big from inception. That's right. It was like, you know, no, we need to like gradually build up. And I think we're finally here, Lance. And again, I'm just so happy. I think this is a product that I enjoy attending and, of course, working. And I know all viewers who have not attended would not want to miss out on the opportunity on the horse racing side. Now, it's a 16 horse field. They said 10 would be local horses and six can be imported. But of course, if that's not filled by the time they're going to have Jamaican horses. Yeah. Last time the interest in the event was significant because Rough Entry, the eventual winner, had shown some quality performances at Godstream Park before he arrived in Jamaica. So there was a lot of buzz surrounding him. And one of the things about his entry was that he hadn't raced in Jamaica before. So he had galloped well, exercised well and was preparing well for the event, but he hadn't raced in Jamaica before. So that created a little bit of doubt in some people's minds because they are fans who felt that the Jamaica race track would be different from race tracks in the USA. So there was a feeling that they were a little uncertain that Rough Entry would just transport the brilliant performances that we saw in the USA immediately to came out of the park without a sort of a warm-up run here. But he won by seven lengths and was was unchallenged really. And Atomica, who was a racing, the reigning horse of the year, fell, lost the rider coming into the home turn and no one was able to travel to trouble Rough Entry. And well, you heard the owner just now, Dennis Smith, saying that he didn't go back to the USA. He has remained here, didn't win his last race, his first outing after the Mute Mal, but I'm pretty certain that he'll be in Goodnick December and ready to defend his title. And now the discussion will not be that he's new to the conditions. Instead, he has now been conditioned. Lance, I want to hear your thoughts on the Atomica Entry, win and you're in. Those qualifying from the Jamaica, those winning the Jamaica Dabby, the Philip Fianni Odi Gold Cup, the Jamaica Cup and of course the Port Royal Sprint will get Atomica Entry into the Mute Mal. Your thoughts on this approach? I think that's a good approach because it gives an opportunity for some of the horses who may not have gathered enough purse money to qualify to get in and an easier opportunity to get in. I remember the owners of Mahogany, one of the top performers in Jamaica last year, felt as if that horse scuppered its own chances in the event itself by having to run so many races leading up to the Mute Mal because it needed to earn the level that would qualify to be in and the opportunity for horses now to win the Dabby, win the Gold Cup, win the Jamaica Cup, win the Port Royal Sprint and immediately qualify I think is a good thing because it just means that some of the horses will not have to go through the difficulty of trying to race, race, race, race to get earnings to qualify to run. So I think that's a very, very good approach by the organizer, Super Inventors Racing and Entertainment Limited. Yeah, I know this was something that you were very happy about, very pleased about Andy Seuling, the horse racing commentator, I think, you know, he also added to the overall product of the Mute Mal. Do you think we'll have him this year or do you think they're going to even, I don't know who else I could possibly think about that? But one of the issues though with some of these races is that it comes at a time when a lot of these stars have commitments overseas as well. I saw in Barbados last week, the Sanderlain Barbados Gold Cup Robert Geller, who is the race caller for Woodbine racetrack in Canada, he was visiting and he worked to one of the races as a guest commentator, but Woodbine is off, Woodbine doesn't restart. They're on winter break at the moment. They don't restart until April, so it was easy for him to come to the Sanderlain Gold Cup. The first week in December is usually a busy week for a lot of horsemen, riders and commentators and so on. So we'll have to see how things pan out because Pete Ayelo had been here a couple of weeks before the Mute Mal for the Jamaica Cup and then he had to leave. And one of the biggest meets in Gulfstream Park horse racing starts early December. So some of the riders and people involved in that championship meet, which is what they call the race at Gulfstream Park starts early December and runs through to March. Safi Joseph, the Barbadian trainer, is the current champion of that meet. They'll be having commitments. So we'll see how things pan out, but I can tell you at 250,000 US dollars, there'll be a couple of overseas Thoroughbred personalities. There are six spots for that. Yeah, who will think that? You know what? I have a $150,000 race of Tampa Bay or Gulfstream Park and the Jamaica race is offering 250,000. Got to go. So let me head to St. Catherine. Yeah, well, what's for sure is all the action will be December 7th at the Mute Mile. And of course, viewers, we're going to be bringing you coverage. We're going to be doing our very best, of course, have the build up as we continue to bring you the very best in the world of sport. We're going to take a quick commercial break. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.