With things gradually heating up ahead of the three-year-old Classic season, the victory by the Richard Azan-conditioned Reggae Road has thrown another potential contender into the ring after opening his account in fine style on the second time of asking.

When on debut on February 17, going six-and-a-half furlong (1,300 metres) with 56.0 kilogrammes and Shane Ellis in the saddle, Reggae Road found El Profesor too good at the end after making late progress from mid-pack in the competitive event.

After working well since then, Reggae Road returned a half-furlong longer over seven furlong (1,400 metres) on Wednesday’s (March 7, 2018) nine-race card at Caymanas Park and proved too good for rivals this time around with the tongue tie on.

The Azan, Dr Graham Brown and Edison Chai-owned Reggae Road showed vast improvement running with the tongue tie and strong handling from leading apprentice Anthony Thomas, making the victory all the more telling.

A six-and-a-half lengths win by the three-year-old chestnut colt ( Deputy Glitters — Spacedout by Spacelink) was a satisfying one for Azan, who believes his charge is heading in the right direction.

“I expected him to win and he did that very easily. I just spoke to the jockey and he said in the last furlong he was going even better, which is what I want and was looking for, so it augurs well for him going forward,” Azan told The Supreme Racing Guide in a post-race interview.

After tracking the Spencer Chung-conditioned Lord Ashton (Oneil Mullings) from third position leaving the half-mile, Reggae Road, sent off as the overwhelming 1-4 favourite made his presence felt by getting closer to the leader.

By the time they straightened, Reggae Road was right on the shoulders of Lord Ashton, before easily slipping by his tiring rival and running away for an ever-increasing six-length win.

Anna Lisa, the mount of Robert Halledeen, closed fast for second, with Lord Ashton staying on for third ahead of Gift Of Law (Oniel Scott).

Reggae Road covered the distance in a tidy 1:26.4, behind splits of 23.4, 47.2 and a flat 1:13.0.

While optimistic about his charge going forward, Azan was cautious about jumping the gun and pointed out that there are still a few things to work on.

“This (performance) is what we had in mind, so let’s see what happens next. We have to give him ( Reggae Road) another race to see if he improves on that because some of those other horses have been doing a lot better and have won good races. So, we are just going to take our time and get to the Classics and sees what happens then,” Azan ended.