Although she is bred to get a distance of ground the Anthony Nunes — trained two-year-old Esperanza demonstrated that she is fleet of foot as she blew away rivals over five and a half furlongs (1,100 metres) on debut at Caymanas Park on Wednesday.

Nunes in a post-race interview revealed that it was initially intended for the chestnut filly ( Legal Process – It Is I by Footloose ll) to come off the pace, but a change in condition resulted in a change in strategy.

With his rivals Wayne DaCosta and Richard Azan having two runners each in the nine-horse field and the track on the sloppy side, Dick Cardenas was instructed to put the Elias Haloute —owned Esperanza in front, and from there it became a mere formality.

“She leaves the gates well in the mornings, so because the track came up like this today (Wednesday), we just told Dick (Cardenas) to go in front because we didn’t know how she would react to the mud slapping her in her face,” Nunes told The Supreme Racing Guide.

From the five draw, Esperanza quickly opened up a three-length lead on second favourite Christilano (Shane Ellis) and favourite Yaya’s Dream (Jerome Innis) approaching the home stretch, and she maintained a strong gallop from there on all the way to the finish.

Ezperanza won comfortably by two and three parts of a length in a moderate 1:08.0, setting splits of 22.4 and 47.0. Yaya’s Dream was second with Jammin (Oneil Scott) and Christilano completing the frame.

“It was not a bad performance; the time is not so hot, but because the track is a little sticky it kind of took away from her gallop, but besides that she ran well.

“She is a nice filly; I trained her mother who won the Governor’s Cup, so although she showed speed, she is bred to get a distance of ground. So we certainly hope for good things from her going forward,” Nunes noted.

—Sherdon Cowan