Chris Armond, renown face and voice of local racing, has died

Christopher Armond, the face and voice of local racing at Caymanas Park for decades, passed away on Wednesday, age 66.

Since retiring as racing director, Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited in December 2020, Armond served as chairman of the Jamaica Racing Commission’s In-and-out-Running and Observation committee.

Armond, inducted into the Hall of Fame of Thoroughbred Racing in June 2017, under the category of ‘Other Racing Personalities’, hails from a family with a tradition of service to the racing industry in Jamaica.

His father, Joseph Armond, and grandfather, Altamont Armond, both renowned racing administrators, have been inducted into the Hall of Fame of Thoroughbred Racing in Jamaica.

After leaving Campion College in 1969, Armond served as assistant to top trainer Arthur Sharpe for a year before moving to the stables of Dennis Sasso.

Armond’s association with Caymanas Park started in the early 1970s, working closely with track and property manager Freddie Jobson, who also served as track announcer on racedays. Armond also assisted his father, then managing director of the promoting company, Caymanas Park Limited, in the racing division.

Armond soon started calling races at Caymanas Park and was hired as a racing commentator on radio by Lindy Delapenha, then head of the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation’s Sports Department.

His foray into racing administration with Caymanas Track Limited in 1989 saw Armond serving the promoting company as clerk of the course, racing secretary, director of racing and promotions. When he resigned from the company in April 1998, Armond was vice-president of racing, promotions and public relations.

Armond’s knowledge of North American racing heralded the transition to a new system of horse racing, claiming and conditions, started in 1993, coinciding with the installation of a new totatlisator system, which enabled increased betting options for punters islandwide at newly established off-track betting parlours, which grew to account for the bulk of the promoting company’s revenues.

Armond left Jamaica in the latter part of 1998 to assume the post of CEO of the Arima Race Club in Trinidad and Tobago for three years. He moved to Barbados in 2001 to assume the post of CEO of the Barbados Turf Club and stayed there for seven years.

Armond returned to Caymanas Park in 2009, appointed a director of the then new board by the minister in charge of the racing industry, Senator Don Wehby. After that stint, he was back at Caymanas Park in 2017, brought on board to head the racing department by chairman of Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited, Paul Hoo.