Goat and Crab Race Festival

Goat Racing

With names like Be My Hero, Trouble Maker and Sian’s Gold, goat racing got underway on Sunday afternoon at Buccoo. With an eight race card for the day’s activities it promised to be a treat. Wait, you say, this is Goat Racing?

Yes indeed it is. In Tobago, Goat Racing is serious business, very serious business and also an interesting and unique event. Introduced in 1925, Goat Racing has had a long history, particularly as an Easter Tuesday activity.

The event is surrounded by all the pageantry and pomp of the better known thoroughbred racing. There are stables, owners, trainers, jockeys and of course the steeds. The steeds are very carefully selected and trained over a period of months. These energetic and long-legged goats often become the sole focus of the jockey or trainer.

The training as a jockey is equally rigorous, since they must be able to match their steed’s pace during an actual race over the 100m stretch of turf. The jockeys do not actually ride their steeds but rather run alongside whilst holding on to long leashes.

Prior to a race it is quite usual to see a jockey walk the course looking for any irregularities. Jockeys also warm up by doing several sprint starts and stretching exercises.

Having been assigned to their respective lanes the goats are then paraded, with commentary indicating the favourites for the race. Then its off to the box, where just like their larger thoroughbred counterparts, some mounts are known to give a little trouble.

The commentary can often be as colourful as the event, with very much being offered tongue in cheek. Comments on the massive crowd, the condition of the track, the multitude of balloons are all provided in good fun. The patrons are usually appreciative of the light hearted attitude and are all the more keen on seeing the race card progress.

Racing generally occurs in classes such as C1 or C2. The age of the steed determines the particular class that it races in. There are even corporate sponsors for the event. One such sponsor even entered its own steed.

And they are off! The starter has released the field and they race for the finish. Sometimes the field is concentrated to one side of the field and there is much jostling for position, at others the field is more widely dispersed. It is a thrilling thing to hear the thundering hooves, the shouts of the jockeys and crowd as the goats near the finish line. Yes indeed in Tobago Goat Racing is a big thing, as a spectator you are sure to walk away a changed person.

Say are you entering the next race?

Crab Racing

Crab racing isn’t as glamourous as Goat Racing but equally as intriguing. Here the crabs, generally a large blue, are harnessed with a piece of string and then encouraged by much poking and prodding to run in the desired direction.

Despite the smaller scale the interest and energy of the onlookers is very much in evidence. But alas for the losers of this race, they soon take up another prized place… in someone’s Crab and Callaloo on Sunday morning.