Thoroughbred racing has seen many a star and one of latest and brightest is four-year-old dark bay American-bred colt Stranger Danger .

And as he turned for home under jockey Omar Walker in total control, a sense of inevitability was felt throughout as the bay colt destroyed runners to win the sixth running of the $2.5 million Lyrix Soft Drink Invitational Mile at Caymanas Park on Sunday.

The Wayne DaCosta trainee in the process marched to his ninth-consecutive victory on local soil. He won by seven lengths while sprinting to a new stakes record of 1:36.3 minutes, erasing the previous mark of 1:37.1 minutes done by his stable companion Without Exception last year.

The racing fraternity had been looking for another outstanding horse, one worthy to stand alongside the other greats to have graced the racetrack at Caymanas Park and they may just have found such a horse in Stranger Danger.

THE RACE

Restrained at the off, Stranger Danger sat in second position and allowed Honey Ryda (Christopher Mamdeen) to set the early pace with stable companion Uncle Frank (Oneil Mullings) in third place ahead of Houdini’s Magic (Dane Dawkins), a former winner of this event. Honey Ryda continued to lead at a merry clip down the backstretch as Stranger Danger got closer with every stride before joining the leader on a common canter leaving the five-furlong (1,000m) point. When Walker asked the far-striding animal to run, Stranger Danger took over navigating the half-mile (800m) and from that point it was just a matter of racing against the clock as the other runners were left well behind. Connecting splits of 24.0 x 46.3 and 1:10.1 was just the icing on the cake for this impressive horse.

TRAINER’S COMMENT

It was a performance which pleased trainer Wayne DaCosta with the colt not really being extended. “The win was basic. He was running against an inferior field as he had beaten much better than this field seeing that he was given 57.0kg and everyone else was given 50.0kg, but he made it like a one-horse field from early out and nothing was unexpected as we all expected him to win but the time of 1:36.3 was extremely good for a mile, especially carrying 57.0kg. He was not really extended in the straight but with a few taps and hand ridden up to the line. From here we are heading to the Diamond Mile which is about a month away. After that we will see what comes next.”