Turf club and ‘Tyre Master’ head to court over track ownership

The longstanding dispute between local businessman, Carlton “Tyre Master” Lewis and the Antigua Turf Club (ATC) regarding ownership of the Cassada Garden’s Race Track, may be resolved in the courtroom next week.
Following Sunday’s third and final leg of this year’s Triple Crown Series — The Governor General’s Cup — President of the ATC, Neil Cochrane revealed that the body has decided to temporarily relax its racing calendar to deal with the matter.
“Really and truly, the next race day was not announced because we had to adjust the Triple Crown schedule so we will now look at what the date should have been and determine where we go from here. Then, you have to look at the fact that, finally, there is a court date for the matter with Carlton Lewis coming up next week so that’s our next challenge,” he said.
Lewis has claimed that he has the only legitimate lease to the property and that the Antigua Turf Club is currently trespassing, as they were never given permission to use the facility.
Cochrane has however countered Lewis’ argument, reminding that the club has been using the Cassada Garden’s Race Track for over 40 years now.
“At the end of the day, we want what’s in the best interest of our sport and we know that from since 1964, that property was handed over to the Antigua Turf Club and it was an extremely big error on the part of some government administrator when they did what they did,” he said.
Numerous efforts between the parties to amicably settle the dispute went sour with Lewis claiming to have had several potential investors willing to upgrade the facility to international standards.
Cochrane has however expressed confidence in the turf club’s case.
“No, not at all we are not concerned. The legal team is pretty strong, the legal position is very strong as well also so we are ready to rumble and we are very confident that we will be victorious in this regard. We never really had an amicable position so it had to go finally where we are,” the turf boss said.
Efforts to reach Lewis for a comment proved futile as numerous calls to his mobile phone went unanswered.