Legendary Griffiths stars in Caymanas show with double
Hall-of-Fame and veteran jockey Winston ‘Fanna’ Griffiths was at his vintage best when booting home two winners from as many mounts to bring the house down at Caymanas Park yesterday.
Griffiths may not be the force of yesteryear, but the man known for his ‘fanning’ riding style revisited his halcyon days when he skilfully guided the Harry Parsard-owned and trained Long Running Train to a commanding victory in the day’s feature, the Royal Dad Trophy, over 1,820 metres.
Coincidentally, Griffiths was the regular partner of the illustrious Royal Dad, with the two combining to become the first Triple Crown winner at Caymanas Park in 1981.
Settled in mid-pack for most of the way, Griffiths then produced Long Running Train for what turned out to be the decisive move when hitting the front full of running just approaching the final bend.
And although challenged a bit from Brawn (Omar Walker up) at the top of the straight, the three-year-old bay filly responded well from the right-hand whipping from Griffiths and powered home to win emphatically by six lengths.
Brawn had to settle for second money, while the 3-5 favourite Southern Cruise (Shane Ellis astride) was another two-and-three- quarter lengths in third. Parsard’s other runner, Original Train, under Oneil Mullings, was fourth in the 12-horse field.
Long Running Train, a bay filly by Flower Alley – Cuz You Never Know, covered the distance in a fast 1:53:4 minutes.
Earlier on the 10-race programme, Griffiths was again at his best when he produced Campesino for a terrific stretch run to win the top-rated race, an Open Allowance event for three-year-olds and upward going over 1,200 metres.
Owned by Hamark Farms and trained by Philip Feanny, OD, Campesino was a comfortable two-and-three-quarter lengths winner over Franfield (Bebeto Harvey aboard) and Puddy Pooh (Paul Francis up) in a dazzling 1:11:3 minutes.
“Well it feels good to visit the winner’s enclosure for the second time today. To win races you have to get the horses, and I am happy that I got the horses,” Griffiths said.
Racing continues next Saturday.
