WITH the two opening Classics promoted together on this race card the pundits had enough facts and figures to make use of the opportunity to engage in clinical as well as speculative analysis of the best three-year-olds available at this time in terms of current form and likely improvement, or lack thereof, going forward.

Truth be told, the result of the Portmore trial for aspiring fillies raised questions as it relates to the quality of the current crop of the fairer sex when juvenile champion She’s A Wonder, under top weight, was unconvincing over the 1,500 metres. Similarly, champion Further And Beyond, schooled by Anthony Nunes, was even less convincing when dead-heating with Miniature Man to share the bulk of the spoils in the 1500-metre Kingston trial. These results were enough to raise doubts about the superiority of both filly and colt over their respective peers.

The Ian Parsard-trained S he’s A Wonder left no doubt as to her level of superiority in winning the 1600-metre 1000 Guineas impressively. Rider Reyan Lewis, hunting his first Classic success, got her to relax immediately and she strolled the first 1200 metres in 1:10.3 before being asked for the final sprint. The powerful filly’s display of speed and stamina took her to over seven lengths clear of her nearest rival at the finish.

An hour later Further And Beyond (Dane Nelson) failed to make good on his opportunity to confirm his well-chronicled superior form in the 1600-metre 2000 Guineas. Oftentimes in these races there is very little margin for error, and the Anthony Nunes-trained favourite, with his nose pointed at the race track surface at the crucial moment, was off to an untidy start. Having to settle for a non-threatening third of just over three lengths, this column predicts significant improvement for Further And Beyond and that he will not be so unfortunate on Derby Day.

On the other hand, both Miniature Man (Dick Cardenas) and Nuclear Noon (Robert Halledeen) held good positions early and both had the remainder, including Further And Beyond, in trouble in the upper home straight. Miniature Man had the better finishing power by just over one length on the day but obviously revealed absolutely nothing concretely useful for Derby Day speculation.

The exception of course is, the 1000 Guineas heroine completed the first 1200 metres one fifth of a second faster than the 2000 field, with a final time 0f 1:41.2 to 1:39.3 posted by the opposite sex without the hindrance of the fairly strong home straight headwind encountered by the fillies an hour earlier.

In the opening 1600-metre event Shauna Cruise (Omar Walker) did enough to justify 6/5 favouritism for trainer Nicholas Smith to register his fifth success of the season. Trained by Anthony Nunes, Hecandance ridden by Shane Ellis won the day’s second by just under two lengths ahead of stablemate Devine Lexie in the 1400-metre gallop.

Conditioner Parsard had the pleasure of saddling the first two to finish in the 1820-metre third for the first of two wins on the card. Princess Lizzy (Dane Dawkins) had a longer neck than stablemate Ajita at the finish but the latter was relegated to fourth for interference with favourite No Identity in the last 200 metres.

Lightly raced and well-conformed four-year-old filly Salvation (Oniel Mullings) won her fourth race from nine starts in scoring for the third time over the 1000-metre straight course for former thirteen-time champion trainer Philip Feanny.

The late Robert Darby was rechristened the “Claiming King” by the fraternity and the punters. If trainer Gregory Forsyth continues his shrewd acquisition of horses then, in not too long a time from now, he will have to be given a sobriquet acknowledging he is the new ruler. Cartel sprinted well in the fifth event over the straight course. The consistent seven-year-old gelding won his fourth race consecutively, with the last three for Forsyth improving the trainer’s tally to ten for the season.

The sudden return to form by Estalita saw her achieve her second win in 47 starts. The former Anthony Nunes-conditioned inmate won by nearly four lengths for the first of a double by Cardenas and the first success of the season for trainer Michael Francis in the sixth event.

Race seven over 1100 metres was won by 6/1 shot Tequila Blue (Robert Halledeen) for trainer Gary Subratie and the heavily invested owner of the Success Farms.

Following the predictable routine success of 1000 guineas winner She’s A Wonder, the penultimate Open Allowance event on the ten-race card basically set the stage for the entertainment value the closing 2000 Guineas offered.

Disappointingly, Horse of the Year 2020 and favourite Nipster never raised a competitive gallop. Lightweight Roy Rogers (Jordan Barrett), until overtaken by King Arthur (Anthony Thomas), ensured there was a strong pace over the first 1200.

King Arthur’s move was way too early and although he fought gamely, only finished fourth – albeit by less than one length. Oneofakind (Dane Nelson) and Crimson (Christopher Mamdeen) commenced simultaneous finishing sprints five hundred metres out and raced by King Arthur entering the last 200 metres.

With nothing to separate them in the head-to-head and shoulder-to-shoulder duel, it was the Nunes-trained Oneofakind who wanted it more. The winner had a head to spare and Crimson was only three parts of length clear of eleven-year-old bay gelding Hovercraft’s flying finish, with tactically flawed King Arthur a neck further back in fourth.

In continuing our monitoring of the performance of the second-generation trainers 2021 phenomenon, it is noted that with Parsard’s double and one win each for DaCosta, Subratie and Nunes, once again they have won half the races on a ten-race programme and, along with the others not named here, have now secured success in 156 of the 345 races staged in this season so far.

The Training Feat Award is presented to DaCosta for the obvious improvement displayed by Minaiture Man, and the 2000 Guineas winner delivered the Best Winning Gallop skilfully assisted by Cardenas for the Jockeyship Award. The Panamanian-born former champion’s performance met the criteria for this accolade comfortably in all respects.