PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago — Juice Man turned in another sensational performance when horse racing resumed after a one-week break yesterday (August 1) at Santa Rosa Park, Arima.

Last year’s Horse of the Year outclassed a high-quality bunch of 80 and to win the penultimate and feature attraction of the seven-race Emancipation Day holiday card.

Although punters made Juice Man the 3/5 favourite, it seemed a very difficult race on paper as he had not faced the starter in four-and-a-half months, while arch-rivals Apocalypse and General JN had raced four weeks ago.

It didn’t matter one iota in the end as Glen Mendez’s charge made all the running to score a very comfortable 4 ¼-length triumph in the 1,750-metre contest, stopping the clock in a snappy time of 1:49.44 seconds with multiple champion jockey Ricky Jadoo up.

The handicap event was supposed to be contested over 1,600 metres on the turf, but it took place on the main track after a heavy and lengthy shower attacked the already soft, inner course less than an hour before.

The switch worked in the favour of Juice Man, General JN and Apocalypse, as none of the “Big Three” had competed on the lawn before.

Juice Man has an awesome record over “a distance of ground” since he came across from Jamaica around the middle of last year.

Justyn Kanta Persad’s four-year-old has won six of seven times over two turns in Trinidad, with his only blemish being a heartbreaking defeat by a head to Apocalypse in the Caribbean Champion Stakes at the end of October.

Juice Man was attempting to score for the fifth time in succession and his win streak had included beating Apocalypse into second place in the final two legs of the Triple Crown—Midsummer Classic and Trinidad Derby Stakes.

Apocalypse was in second place until the far turn yesterday, but the 5/2 second favourite could not keep up when the heat was turned on and ended up sixth of the second finishers, 12¼ lengths behind his nemesis.

The Jamaican-bred five-year-old edged former two-time Horse of the Year, Thisonesforron, by a half-length, and Spoke In Yuh Wheel rounded out the top four, 1¾ lengths back.

Juice Man was racing for the first time since he was surprisingly placed in the 1,200-metre Santa Rosa Dash and ended up seventh of eight over a trip, well short of his best in the middle of March.

The son of Storm Craft, who has earned over TT$300,000 from his nine starts at Santa Rosa, had also failed to find the winners’ enclosure in his other one-turn outing (1,300 metres), finishing second to Awesome April after a three-month absence in late January.

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