Traditionally the Boxing Day card yields good business for the promoting company and there was no departure on this occasion as aided and abetted by significant carryover pools the sales achieved a satisfactory level.

Money Call, ridden by outgoing champion Anthony Thomas, showed his appreciation for being given a longer distance of 1,300 metres by trainer Michael Francis to gallop past tired rivals 150 metres out to score in the opener by over three lengths. This gave Francis an eighth trip to the winner’s enclosure to end the year with a good strike-rate with this race only his 41st start. He also recorded four second and two third-place finishes.

Apprentice Anthony Allen, who looks likely to make an impression in the upcoming season, again demonstrated he is learning fast by being best in a close finish with trainer Carl Anderson’s Sunshine Cat having only a neck and a head margin over her two closest rivals in winning the day’s second.

Influenced by sales patterns, the promoters took the practical step of staging the feature SVL Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes as the third event. The fact of the matter is that trainer Gary Subratie’s impressive colt Wow Wow was unlikely to be defeated and almost sure to hand the owner’s title to heavy investor Michael (Michros) Bernard with the $2.16 million winning share of the $4.0 million purse.

Confidently ridden for his eighth consecutive race, Wow Wow did not rack up as wide a winning margin as the seven previous occasions, having only two lengths to spare over Wayne DaCosta’s improving colt Tomohawk ridden by Kiaman McGregor. In front from 750 metres out, Wow Wow appeared to idle on the lead but was never threatened by the second-place finisher.

Race four was won by chronic bleeder Dallas to give trainer Anthony Smith, who owns the five-year-old gelding as well, one win having started horses in 36 races to date. Always travelling sharply Dallas scored by seven lengths to make it two wins for champion jockey Thomas on the day.

Champion jockey 2019, Christopher Mamdeen, had little to do on Nuclear Thunder as Phillip Elliott’s consistent four-year-old chestnut gelding led and kept increasing his margin to win the fifth by four lengths eventually. Mamdeen had even less to do when Sentient won the eighth event by six lengths to give trainer Subratie his second success of the afternoon.

Well-fancied Musketoon won the sixth for journeyman pilot Kerry-Gayl Robinson to continue the good season for trainer Joseph Thomas, who has now tallied 16 wins from 86 starts.

Race seven provided the opportunity for second generation trainer Ryan Darby to win his 20th race of the season achieved under a good ride on General Report by improving apprentice Raddesh Roman. The five-year-old gelding is owned by Raphael Gordon who, in terms of longevity, is the most consistent individual investor in the racing industry.

Roman had a second win when Patrick Smellie’s Sweet Surprise with a strong finish thwarted the effort of the New Blue-owned Oneil Mullings-ridden Bloodsweatandtears to make all in the nightcap.

THE AWARDS

The Training Feat Award is presented to Gary Subratie as Wow Wow, with approximately $11.6 million in earnings and eight victories, achieved a feat which is a record unlikely to be ever emulated in the future annals of local racing history. Recognising another perfect performance, the Best Winning Gallop goes naturally to Wow Wow and the Jockeyship Award to his rider Ameth Robles who handled the nerve-wracking high pressure assignment with high professional expertise.