Record six-time champion jockey Omar ‘Hot’ Walker, who has been out of the saddle for two months due to injury, announced his return to competitive race riding with an emphatic victory aboard the Wayne DaCosta-conditioned Armageddon last Saturday at Caymanas Park.

Having sustained a broken wrist after falling from his mount during the regular exercise morning period in early November, Walker was forced to miss the rest of the season last year. Nevertheless, even with the two-month hiatus, he was still able to secure his sixth jockey championship title, 10 winners clear of Shane Ellis who ended in second place despite a late surge. Walker rode 69 winners while Ellis rode 59. This was the first occasion in Jamaica’s racing history at Caymanas Park that a jockey was winning the coveted title six times.

Walker managed to secure only two mounts on Saturday – Aria and Armageddon – both from DaCosta’s barn. Aria, who participated in the second race, finished in fourth place in the five-and-a-half-furlong (1,100m) event behind Fashionista, El Profesor, and Breezy Adlih.

In his non-winners of three race, Armageddon broke well and stayed with the field for the first half of the five-furlong (1,000m) straight event before pulling away for a length-and-a-quarter victory over Sarah Lee (Dane Dawkins) and K D Flyer (Aaron Chatrie) in a quick 58.2 on a fast racing surface on Saturday.

This was the third win overall for Armageddon. He is part-owned by the president of the Jamaica Racehorse Owners Association, Dr Graham Brown, who was a very happy camper on Saturday at the Park.