IN a short but consistent and promising racing career, three-year-old dark brown filly, Black River was able to achieve her first win in some style on Saturday last (April 20, 2019)

Competing among her fellow three-year-old maidens for the fifth time while attempting the longest distance by going 8 ½ furlongs (1,700m), Black River finished with authority clocking a time of 1:48.1, that left trainer Lance Richards super pleased.

“Yes, it is an encouraging performance at this stage of her development. She has had an injury since her second race and since then, we have been taking time with her while using actual races to bring her on and, in her last race, I thought, I saw a few things that caused me to make a few additional changes and that resulted in what you saw from her today,” Richards shared with The Supreme Racing Guide

In her four previous races Black River has never been less than second while competing in distances from 5 ½ through to 7 ½ with her best finish coming in a 2 ¾-length loss to Extruder, in a time of 1:34.2.

“She ( Black River) has shown a lot of promise and now that she is on the road to recovery, we can now try to push on with her. At the moment, the sky is the limit with her and, it is just a matter of time to get her together and taking it from there onward,” Richards added.

Bred by Lakeland Farms and owned by Norris Phinn, the 5/2 chance, Black River by Storm Craft – She Sell Of, ridden by the claiming apprentice Kiaman McGregor, won by seven lengths ahead of second by the post, the 11-1 shot Ali, ridden by champion jockey Anthony Thomas.

The 7/5 favourite, Scoobert (Shane Ellis) was one paced and had to settle for third.