Three well-established jockeys took total control of the 10-race Independence card at Caymanas Park.

Anthony Thomas, Dick Cardenas and Shane Ellis, all former champions won eight of the 10 races that were contested on the day. Cardenas and Thomas rode triples while Ellis won two.

The other two races were won by two senior riders Dane Nelson and the returning Aaron Chatrie.

This meant that on the race day, none of the apprentices were able to bring home a winner, which in itself is quite unusual.

Cardenas, who made a return to local race racing last weekend August 1, guided Victor Williams’ four-year-old filly Fabulosity to victory at odds of 39/1 in the day’s opening event.

The nicely conformed consistent bay was held up behind the unconvincing front runners. She outstayed her field with a final 200-metre sprint to score by over two lengths.

No doubt trainer Spencer Chung was disappointed when progressive filly Truly Amazing (Dane Nelson) failed to justify the odds in the second when outsprinted inside the last 100 metres by Enuffisenuff (Dick Cardenas); clearly another progressive sort.

The strapping three-year-old grey colt, who was schooled by Philip Feanny for his first victory, has now delivered twice for champion Anthony Nunes.

Trainer Alford Brown had the first of a natural double when Adore Brilliance (Anthony Thomas) won the third event by over eight lengths and Case Closed (Shane Ellis) the fourth by seven lengths.

El Maestro won race five by over eight lengths for shrewd conditioner Errol Waugh to give Thomas his second on the day.

For his third, Thomas, who is by far the most talented of the riders to emerge in the last decade, was able to justify this designation with an educated well-timed but troubled effort on trainer Michael Francis’ nine-year-old free-scoring gelding Chief Prospect.

The hard-knocking son of War Marshall won for the 17th time in 54 starts to secure the purse of race six with the 2018 champion jockey having to navigate through traffic in the final 200 metres.

The good form of trainer Ian Parsard continued when Cardenas, in winning his third, brought Step In Faith wide at the top of the home stretch and was machine-like in half a dozen switches of the whip from hand to hand from that point to keep the filly running on a true line.

The eighth was a 6 ½ lengths runaway for Puskas (Aaron Chatrie) with Chung getting his first of consecutive trips to the winners’ enclosure. Half an hour later, Chung’s early disappointment with Truly Amazing must have been erased totally.

Bred by Richard Lake in the USA, imported three-old Race Car (Dane Nelson), gunning for his fourth victory from five starts won the ninth event in the hardest way possible.

Slowly into stride and trailing rivals down the backstretch the huge, powerful grey colt running from post position number one had to be taken to the widest path 800 metres out to circle all rivals.

Having a lot to do from the top of the stretch, Race Car ran on really well to score by a head in an exciting finish over the battling pair of Sentient (Robert Halledeen) and Master of Hall (Raddesh Roman) with a only short head between second and third.

In the nightcap, talented but temperamental Green Gold Rush, posted by former jockey turned trainer Phillip Elliot, fresh from a sixth place finish behind Wow Wow in the 2000 Guineas scored by over five lengths for Ellis’ second winner on the card.

THE AWARDS

The Training Feat Award is presented to Spencer Chung for his schooling of the talented but still inexperienced Race Car and the colt is therefore unchallenged for the Best Winning Gallop accolade. Race Car’s triumph is due in no small measure to the skill and experience of leading rider Dane Nelson who is well deserving of another Jockeyship Award.