His first appearance at Caymanas Park on Saturday was greatly anticipated, especially after some good early-morning gallops, and the American-bred Legendary U lived up to the expectations of his trainer Joseph Thomas and owners M&S syndicate.

Legendary U impressed with his first run on local soil, leaving Thomas optimistic that he has a great prospect in one of his stalls at the moment.

The chestnut colt by Hard Spun out of the Unbridled Song mare Brisquette, ridden by Shane Ellis, led every step of the way in an unchallenged two-and-a-quarter-length victory in the Restricted Allowance Seek Composition Mixed Colour Trophy. Legendary U ended his five-and-a-half-furlong romp in a brisk 1:06.2, setting splits of 23.0 for the first quarter (400m), and 46.0 seconds for the half-mile (800m).

“This is his first run. He is in the process of learning the craft of racing and although running green, he demonstrated great potential, and what can be taken from this performance is that he can get better.

“Running for the first time, we did not know what to fully expect. He was put in the race in the same manner as one of his regular exercise routines for him to see what racing is all about.

“This was to give us a look at how well he performs so we can possibly look at what to do going forward with him, and possibly you might see him in some kind of equipment in his next race,” Thomas said.

Thomas doesn’t want to get too far ahead of himself, but the veteran trainer believes that Legendary U has the credentials to perform well and win more races as he moves forward in his career.

“I don’t want to jump the gun. I am just taking it step by step, because some of the times when you jump the gun it backfires on you. So I am just racing him to see how far he can go. I am not going to say now, but the more he races the more he will improve, and in time we will know how far he will reach and that too will depend on how sound he remains.

“He is young and green and has his problems, but he is a nice horse and I feel he is the best horse I have right now at my stables.

“What I know before about Legendary U is only what my connections abroad told me …that he is a good horse. I am, therefore, also learning, and clearly I am more than willing to do so, ” Thomas said.

Sent off as the 4-5 favourite, Legendary U, after a couple of strides, was pushed through to take up the lead. The chestnut colt opened up a good lead on the field at the five-sixteen pole, and although swerving a bit in deep stretch, Legendary U was too far in front to be pegged back.

Malachi (Dane Dawkins) finished second and Toot The Blues (Anthony Thomas) third.

“The performance was good. Although he is inexperienced, this first run was very good. This is a very good racehorse and when he settles down and gets rolling, I am telling you, Legendary U is going to be a very nice horse,” Ellis said.