GIVEN the opportunity to demonstrate that her recent fourth-place effort three lengths behind top-rated filly She’s A Wonder in the Portmore Classic trial over 1400 metres was genuine improvement, Amy The Butcher scored in the closing and feature Monday Morning Trophy.

Prepared by veteran conditioner Patrick Fong, apprentice Jordan Barrett rode confidently. From a sustained, prominent position the filly glided by favourite Big Jule (Omar Walker) inside last 200 metres to score by nearly two lengths in the 1400-metre contest. Rusty (Omar Walker) was second with the favourite relegated to third.

The opening event on the nine-race card was won by four-year-old Adoration (Ian Spence), running for only the second time in a career that commenced with a 10-length victory on January 20, 2020. Trained by Philip Feanny, the then maiden colt was deemed to have started with undeclared race day medication and was therefore disqualified subsequently. Interestingly, Adoration was declared a late nonstarter a month later and is only now making it back to the races. Clearly difficult to train, he was good enough today but only defended his long-time lead by a neck over Commissioner (Anthony Thomas).

Joint champion and leading rider Thomas was able to coax a victory out of debutant Baton Rouge to justify odds-on favouritism in the 1000-metre second event.

In winning this event, second-generation trainer Jason DaCosta has moved into fourth with 15 winners in the 2021 trainers’ listing. As a matter of fact, this is less than two months since the 35-year-old was Jamaica Racing Commission-licensed in own right for the race meeting of April 7, 2021. To date, a combination of his United States (381) and Jamaica (15) exploits has yielded nearly 400 first places in his career.

The day’s third over 1400 metres was an eleven-and-half-length runaway for Patrick Lynch’s Sheboom, thus gifting former champion Dick Cardenas his 10 per cent riding commission.

Half an hour later in the 1200-metre fourth event, 10-year-old Unbreakable (Dane Nelson), in his 105th start, won for the 26th occasion to facilitate trainer Johnny Wilmot’s 10th trip to the winners’ enclosure this year.

Running for the 58th occasion, six-year-old mare Stacyslady (Chalrick Budhai) justified the patience of trainer Henry Harrison Jr with victory by a short head in the 1200-metre fifth race.

Finishing a good fifth in a much stronger field six days earlier, the Gary Subratie-trained Rack Away (Tevin Foster) was six and a half lengths superior to his nearest rival in the 1400-metre sixth event.

Trained by Anthony Nunes, Nuclear Noon (Robert Halledeen) stayed on strongly on the far rails to win the 1400-metre seventh event. This confirmed the colt’s preparation for next month’s 2000 Guineas is on track. This victory by a length and a quarter over US-bred favourite and useful stable companion Go Deh Girl (Dane Nelson) was an excellent test of Nuclear Noon’s class, speed and stamina.

Apart from being in the top 10 of stake-earners currently, what do trainers Anthony Nunes, Gary Subratie, Ian Parsard, Jason DaCosta, Steven Todd, Ryan Darby and Robert Pearson have in common? Answer: Their fathers were in the profession; in the case of Todd, his dad Richard is still active while others already made their transition. Incidentally, Henry Harrison Jr, whose father has long passed on as well, in winning with Stacyslady meant second-generation conditioners won four of the day’s nine races to confirm a 2021 trend.

The Training Feat Award is presented to Henry Harrison Jr for being convinced Stacyslady, an aging mare of extremely limited ability, could release her maiden certificate although 59 races were required. The Best Winning Gallop was that of Nuclear Noon, being most convincing over the distance and establishing himself as a likely worthy competitor for Classic honours going forward. The 2019 champion Christopher Mamdeen won the eighth event aboard Alexa’s Dream for trainer Robert Pearson in an intense duel for the major slice of the prize money.

The Jockeyship Award is merited by Mamdeen. Riding filly Alexa’s Dream, he handed senior reinsman Shane Ellis and bit of a lesson in the final part of the bend with a non-interfering edge to the right to force the challenging Vanquisher to cover more ground. Ellis aboard Vanquisher was taken a little wide by Mamdeen’s clever tactic which gained increased marginal advantage for Alexa’s Dream early in the stretch run. It was head-to-head and shoulder to shoulder throughout the home straight but Mamdeen, seemingly wanting victory more when Alexa’s Dream was headed briefly, drove his mount determinedly to prevail by a neck.