Band of Gold , an unfancied two-year-old filly, delivered a telling blow as a 34-1 long shot in the second race of the day at Caymanas Park on Saturday.

The win by the two-year-old in a native-bred two-year-old maiden condition race going six furlongs (1,300 metres) for a purse of $900,000 surprised even her trainer Wayne DaCosta, who had two other notable entries in the race: the filly Yaya’s Dream, ridden by Jerome Innis, as the morning line favourite at odds of 3-5, and Storm, an attractive bay colt ridden by Dane Nelson, who was running for the first time and who was well supported as a 7-1 shot.

Band of Gold (Phillip Parchment) broke behind the leaders including Yaya’s Dream and even then trainer DaCosta was hopeful that she would have a better run on this occasion with Lasix administered for the first time, and she did.

Though heartened by the filly’s performance, DaCosta had his reservations.

“She has never been a good exercise horse in the mornings, as she would always lag behind. Racing for the first time, she was slowly out and never got going until entering the straight, but then she beat almost half the field after she got going, so we were expecting an improved performance today (Saturday).

“But we were never expecting her to be so close so early, and she was able to wear them down in the final furlong. So, the hope is now for Band of Gold to return to the exercise track and start getting into her work, in order for a better assessment to be made of what she’s really capable of,” DaCosta said.