Dear Source,
Traxco should be trying to intergrate their St. Croix horse racing with El Comandante. The El Comandante races should be broadcast to the club room at the St. Croix track. Good St. Croix horses should also be racing over in Puerto Rico and horses from Puerto Rico should race in St. Croix more often.
There is a substantial horse raising and racing industry in Puerto Rico but articles say that there are not enough race horses now for a full slate. A large area of Puerto Rico which might have been urbanized after being taken out of sugar and cattle is being preserved as green space by horse farms.
One thing obviously holding back the serious development of horse raising for horse racing, equitation, dressage and polo in St. Croix is the inadequate protection of horses from rustlers. A horse worth as much as a car could be stolen, physically damaged and traumatized without meaningful punishment. Without V.I. legislation punishing mayhem against and theft of animals, people are reluctant to invest.
Horses as well as a side activity for a casino hotel already here in St. Croix could bring in tourists from St. Thomas and beyond. We have land — what we need for animals like horses is respect.
Richard Bond
St. Croix

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