The Joseph Armond Memorial Trophy will highlight a shortened nine-race Sunday programme at Caymanas Park today with an up-tempo Overnight Allowance call to add more competitive zest at the penultimate stage of the card.

Native-bred two-year-olds will not be left out of the milieu as a tidy field of eight runners will push open the Sunday afternoon racing programme with a maiden condition race going 1,400 metres for a purse of $8,000.

Here, the tried and not proven, in company with two debutants, will go in search of new horizons with the Gary Subratie-trained consistent performer Rockdale, who ran in a much better company without success and now looks poised to open his winning account being apprentice-ridden for the first time. Andre Powell will replace jockey Oneil Mullings in the irons.

The much raced filly Flowers Thirty, owned by Rolex Stables and trained by Leroy Fearon, is another promising two-year-old who could use the race to move into the winner’s circle, with the field not as talented as some of her earlier rivals.

For both Flowers Thirty and Rockdale, the journey will not be a problem as both have gone beyond 1,400 metres before while competing in two-year-old races going 1,600 metres. Both Rockdale and Flowers Thirty competed in the Andrew H B Aguilar Memorial Cup, a native-bred two-year-old contest that was won by the expensive and talented colt Pontius Pilate, and finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

Night Light, who was fourth but highly fancied as a 2-1 betting option, returned a week later to romp the Jamaica Observer Trophy, albeit going 400 metres shorter by all of four lengths.

Wong Don, trained by Patrick Fong for owners Superkids Racing Stables, is another who could throw down the gauntlet to the aforementioned Flowers Thirty and Rockdale. In his last outing, though running well throughout, Wong Don was beaten in a very fast time of 1:13.2 by the first-time runner Khaleesi’s Revenge.

The well-bred chestnut colt by Traditional out of the Orientate mare Angela’s Favourite has not yet gone beyond 1,200 metres, but his breeding and preparation do suggest that he should possess a bit more class than this field, and were he to run to expectation in the hands of the champion jockey Shane Ellis, then it should not surprise to see the fledgling Traditional colt unsaddled in the winner’s enclosure.

The Joseph Armond Memorial Trophy takes centre stage on the card and has attracted a firm field of eight runners in a race designated for three-year-olds and upward — imported three-year-olds and upward maidens and three-year-olds NW2 lifetime — going 1,820 metres for a purse of $768,000.

Set to go to post approximately 2:50 pm with the first post two hours earlier, the entire field is fit with only three runners who are not recent winners, but will all get the trip with the minimum of fuss.

Title-chasing trainer, Anthony Nunes has a very strong hand in the event. His Hey Champ, Late N Drafty andPiano Man are all recent winners. So, too, are the Albert Chong-trained Bounce and Major Force trained by Anthony Ferguson, who will also get the trip.

Blue Pepsi Link, Acapulco, and Big Black Nation are the recent non-winners.

– Hurbun Williams