It"s a Superior Quality for Sweet Ruckus Trophy

BY HURBUN WILLIAMS Observer writer

Saturday, December 27, 2014    

THE competitiveness of the Christmas two-day racing festival continues today at Caymanas Park with an entertaining 10-race card headlined by the annual renewal of the Sweet Ruckus Trophy.

A Graded Stakes call for native-bred and imported two-year-olds going 1,400 metres for a purse of $1.3 million, the Sweet Ruckus — one of two competitive two-year-old races on the programme — opens the card at noon. The other juvenile event is the Stewards Cup.

A maiden special weight dash for colts and geldings, the Stewards Cup is the third race on the programme and has attracted a small field of six going 1,000 metres round for a purse of $715,000.

While the winner of the Stewards Cup will most certainly go to a native bred, that of the Sweet Ruckus could go to the imported colt Superior Quality. A fighting winner on debut going 1,200 metres, Superior Quality could pretty well run out an easy winner once again as his 1:13.3 for 1,200 metres looks way outside the scope of any of his rivals which makes winning going farther a mere formality.

Despite this, however, Harry Parsard, who trains for owner Ian Parsard, has not extensively prepared Superior Quality for his second outing. He instead has chosen to add the figure 8 to his charge’s other racing equipment of tongue tie and lasix, a move with a probable view to keep the colt’s focus on his racing.

Parsard has another three runners in the line-up but the main danger to Superior Quality with Omar Walker remaining in the saddle is the Patrick Chang-trained Lady Sangeeta, to be ridden by Shane Ellis.

Parsard has another strong entry in the penultimate ninth race where Boy Wonder will also start as favourite for the Open Allowance call.

Ones To Watch

Race 1 Superior Quality (Omar Walker)

Race 2 Jack The Charmer (Shamaree Muir)

Race 3 Supertronics (Robert Halledeen)

Race 4 Vibes Master (Prince Holder)

Race 5 Eastwood (Devon A Thomas)

Race 6 King Diamond (Richard Mairs)

Race 7 Believe (Aaron Chatrie)

Race 8 Explosive Princess (Prince Holder)

Race 9 Boy Wonder (Omar Walker)

Race 10 Tropicaldepression (Shamaree Muir)

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It"s a Superior Quality for Sweet Ruckus Trophy

Quality of life confidence up, survey shows

JAMAICANS are expressing increased satisfaction with their lives, despite job prospects nearing record lows, according to the Confidence Index released Wednesday.

Overall, consumer and business confidence for the third quarter 2014 dipped slightly to 97.8 and 112.1 points from 100.8 and 112.8 points respectively three months earlier. Confidence, however, remains much higher than 12 months earlier for both indices.

The rise in satisfaction comes from a general view that the economic policies of the Government, directed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), are warranted.

“Of particular importance, when asked about their satisfaction with the quality of their lives, Jamaicans voiced substantial gains in the recent survey, rising to the highest levels in two years. These gains represent a significant degree of acceptance and accommodation of recent changes in economic policies, despite the accompanying rise in their reports of hardships,” said a survey conducted by Market Research Services, a Kingston-based company headed by pollster Don Anderson.

The study was developed in co-operation with the Surveys of Consumers Department at the Survey Research Centre, University of Michigan, and published through the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce Conference Board.

However, despite increased satisfaction, people still feel that it’s hard to get a job. In fact, the number of people with an optimistic view of job prospects actually dropped to the lowest levels recorded since the survey began in 2001.

“There was a near unanimous opinion among consumers that jobs were currently in short supply, a view held by just over nine-in-10 Jamaicans. Less than 1.0 per cent thought that jobs were plentiful, an all-time record low,” stated the report.

The Consumer Confidence Index, however, is well above the 10-year low of 86.7 points recorded in last year’s third quarter. The reason was that consumers recognised that the economy had begun to improve, although the gains reported by consumers are thus far quite small.

“Devaluation, stagnant salaries, scarce job opportunities, higher taxes, and rising prices continued to be the common complaints of consumers,” stated the report.

Turning to business confidence, the index grew higher during the first three quarters of 2014 than in any other year since 2007.

“Business firms clearly think the new economic policies of the Government are having a favourable impact,” it stated.

Roughly, one-third of business respondents expect the economy to improve, compared with 19 per cent a year earlier. The overall improvement during the past year was the largest recorded during the past decade.

“When asked to explain their improved views on the economy, nearly half of all firms reported that their optimism was linked to favourable assessments of the impact from the adopted government and IMF policies,” stated the report.

In fact, roughly half of all firms in the third quarter 2014 survey reported that it was now a good time to invest to increase capacity.

“These robust investment plans for new plants and equipment represent a substantial vote of confidence by business firms in the future state of the Jamaican economy. Importantly, this sense of renewed confidence in the outlook for the Jamaican economy has not been altered by the unexpected slower pace of past economic gains,” stated the report.

In May 2013, Jamaica entered into its most recent loan agreement approved by the IMF that would result in the island securing nearly US$2 billion in loans over four years from the IMF, World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank under an Extended Fund Facility.

Since the IMF agreement, the local currency lost some 20 per cent of its value against its US counterpart. It resulted in some businesses shifting to exports to fuel growth while others imported less.

“Importantly, the data confirm an ongoing adaptation of firms to increase their exports as well as to produce more products domestically to effectively reduce imports. Significant economic reform is not a sprint, but needs the skills of long-distance runners,” stated the report.

– Steven Jackson

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Quality of life confidence up, survey shows

Fires under control in St. Andrew hills as air quality becomes a concern

There’s concern this morning about the environmental impact of  the bush fires which have razed large acreages of  farmland and other hilly sections of Jacks Hill in St. Andrew over the past 24 hours. One environmentalist is warning that there will be implications for air quality in the Corporate Area.

Chief  Executive Officer of  the Jamaica Environment Trust, Diana McCauley, says the fires in a wide section of  the hills overlooking Kingston have made a bad situation worse:    There were several anxious moments last night for residents of  Jacks Hill and surrounding areas in St. Andrew as massive bush fires spread uncomfortably close to houses and other properties.

A house in an informal settlement near Tavistock was destroyed. The fire is believed to have started at that location. Fire personnel along with Jamaica Defence Force helicopters transporting water battled the fires in other communities including Ivor, Cassia Ridge and Westphalia.

Three units responded to the fires which started about 10 o’clock in the morning and later spread due to heavy winds.

And up to early this morning some of  the fires were still burning along Jacks Hill Road and in Cassia Ridge. Fire personnel said others had been extinguished.

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Fires under control in St. Andrew hills as air quality becomes a concern