Crucial Appeal stakes claim for Caribbean Sprint Championship
Crucial Appeal staked his credentials for next month’s Caribbean Sprint Championship after an impressive run to win the top-rated Open Allowance event on the 10-race programme at Caymanas Park yesterday.
The six-year-old chestnut gelding was hustled up by champion jockey Shane Ellis to take the lead over Polly B, Chace The Great and Campesino in the eight-horse field going around the half-mile turn.
When Ellis uged his mount entering the straight, Crucial Appeal did what he knows best — sprinting away from rivals to win quite easily over his improving, three-year-old stable companion Chace The Great, ridden by apprentice Dane Dawkins.
Gary Glitter (Jerome Innis up) ran the best race of life so far to finish third, while the consistent Campesino, the mount of Ian Spence, could only manage fourth place in the 1,100-metre event for three-year-olds and upward.
This year’s 1,000 Guineas heroine Nuclear Affair (Paul Francis astride) was never a factor throughout the race and, surprisingly, finished in last place.
Force De Four was declared a late non-starter after his rider, Renardo McNaughton was injured in the starting gates. “It was a stroll in the park. It was quite a comfortable race as we had really nothing to do from the off,” Ellis said.
Meanwhile, apprentice Bebeto Harvey continued his good form when he rode a two-timer including Jamai Raja in the Royal Dad Trophy feature over 1,820 metres. Jamai Raja won ahead of Will In Charge (Shane Ellis up) and Awesome Destiny (Dane Dawkins astride) in a fast 1:54.1 minutes.
Awesome Destiny passed the post second, but was disqualified for causing interference to Will In Charge in deep stretch.
Harvey’s other winner was Superbolt in the first race over 1,000 metres round, in 1:01.3 minutes. Both winners were trained by Richard Azan.
Also saddling two winners were trainer Steven Todd and Patrick Fong. Todd was successful with Legal Arena (Anthony Thomas astride) in the fourth race and He’s A Machine (Omar Walker up) in the sixth race.
Fong’s winners were Legendary Pleasure and Brave Prospect in the seventh and eighth races, respectively. Both horses were ridden by Linton Steadman. Racing continues next Saturday.
