Trained by Phillip Lee and ridden by Kiaman McGregor, 12-year-old gelding He’sthereal Links showed enough ability to best a dozen rivals in the opening event. Racing for the 116th occasion, the durable thoroughbred was held up on the heels of the front-runners, hit the front approaching the distance and stayed on well over the 1200 metres for win number eight.

Long odds-on favourite Adoring Sammie struck the front in the upper straight and won by over five lengths with pilot Tevin Foster ensuring trainer Byron Davis opened his 2021 account in 1000-metre round third event.

Joint 2020 champion, the ultra-talented reinsman Anthony Thomas, started the day riding the first of his three winners on the card. Conditioner Steven Todd’s charge Awesome Aviator’s strong late Thomas-induced burst frustrated the effort of Stanislaus (Melissa Ward) to make all over the 1100-metre third race sprint.

Half an hour later, the Todd/Thomas collaboration delivered a runaway leader in the form of Reigning King who ran in splendid isolation in front of seven rivals to win the 1600-metre fourth by six lengths to confirm their double success

A daughter of first season stallion Midnight Hawk, nicely conformed roan filly Silver Hawk (Dick Cardenas), trained by Gary Subratie, was always prominent and held on well to beat favourite Daddy Jones (Larris “Amigo” Allen) who ran greenly over the 1000 metres straight of the fifth event. This race was restricted to three year olds maidens and was the first leg of a divided event.

Infrequently engaged apprentice Shane Richardson justified the confidence of former 14-time champion trainer Philip Feanny in guiding Salvation to a six-length victory in the 1000-metre straight sixth event.

Shane Ellis, who arrived late and missed three earlier mounts but in time for the seventh race, made sure to be aboard Victor Williams’ debutant Regnant. The strong looking chestnut colt, another progeny of Midnight Hawk, glided home six lengths clear in Division II of the straight course maiden event.

Chrisanli, trained by Anthony Subratie and ridden by veteran Devon Thomas, outsprinted his nine opponents in 800-metre eight event and Big Bang (Dane Nelson) returned to form in the 1600-metre ninth for champion trainer Anthony “Baba” Nunes.

The opportunity to win his third of the afternoon was presented to Anthony Thomas in the form of the imported filly Lure Of Lucy, trained by Wayne DaCosta. Sprinting to front early, the US-bred is clearly in a much higher class than her rivals and won the 1300-metre tenth by 10 lengths. Predictably, there was another wide-margin winner in the 11th and closing event when Eroy (Omar Walker) gave trainer Richard Azan his first 2021 trip to the winners’ enclosure with a 10-length winning margin.

The Training Feat Award is presented to Steven Todd who claimed Reigning King on January 23 this year and winning with the six-year-old horse whose last victory was in July of 2019. The Best Winning Gallop accolade goes to Lure Of Lucy who, running for the second time, did nothing wrong in what was effectively a machine-like performance. Dane Nelson gets the Jockeyship Award for the hard-driven three parts of a length triumph on Big Bang.