Review of race day – Saturday, June 19, 2021
THE nine-race card featured another spectacle with this year’s renewal of the 1,400-metre eighth event Eros Trophy delivering a mildly surprising outcome. Trained by second-generation phenomenon Jason Dacosta and moving to Open Allowance company, Eagle One turned in a game p8/erformance to score at odds of 9/1.
It was another well-measured display by former two-time champion Dick Cardenas as the Panamanian-born reinsman got his mount to settle early in pursuit of well-fancied dominating front-runner Father Patrick (Oshane Nugent).
When required in the home straight to take on the pacemaker, the response from Eagle One was immediate as the US-bred colt wrested the lead entering the last 200 metres and had enough momentum to last home. Eagle One finished a threatened one length in front of stablemate and favourite, the Anthony Thomas-ridden King Arthur whose late effort was thwarted.
Trained by Ian Parsard, predictably, the 1,400-metre opening event went to Dejae’s Boy (Oshane Nugent) who confirmed he was up against inferior opponents with a four-length margin of victory. The winner started with a tag for the first time and trainer Errol Subratie won the bid at $1 million for new owners A C K Stables. Dejae’s Boy‘s success was the first of two wins each for both rider and trainer on the day.
Adwa, the 3/5 favourite, duly outsprinted rivals in the second event for trainer Roy Matthews’ first success of the season and the first of a double on the card for apprentice Jordan Barrett.
Veteran trainer Lee Clarke brought an extended absence from the winners’ enclosure to an end with Purposely (Omar Walker) finishing two and a half lengths clear of nearest rival in the day’s third over 1400 metres.
The typically enthusiastic effort from 2019 champion jockey Christopher Mamdeen brought success for breeder-owner-trainer Carl Anderson in the 1000-metre round fourth event. Nicely conformed debutant Great Britt, a grey progeny of Traditional out of the Crucial Trial mare Crucial Cat, did absolutely nothing wrong. In a battle for supremacy from the top of the home straight with the front-running favourite Rocket Lily (Omar Walker), the filly’s game effort was rewarded by a victory margin of a neck for the first of two triumphs for Mamdeen.
Absent from late December, speedy 10-year-old campaigner Talented Tony K added weight to the age-old theory that established sprinters perform best when fresh as he outpaced rivals in the 1000-metre-straight fifth event. It was the second success of the season for Winchester McIntosh and confirmed Nugent’s second of his two winners on the card.
Mamdeen was back in the winners’ enclosure following the 1000-metre sixth event when Heiroffire (3/1) was driven home half a length better than her nearest rival to give trainer Michael Marlowe his eighth victory of the season.
The Gary Subratie-conditioned One Don (Robert Halledeen) whose previous form, having won over 1,600 metres, suggested he would be always best suited by a distance of ground, sprinted brilliantly to surprise at odds of 13/1 in the 1,100-metre seventh event.
The 1,500-metre ninth and final event was turned into a near runaway for Ajita from the Parsard camp for the stable double, and secured apprentice Barrett’s second with victory by over four lengths as he eased down significantly.
This column continues to monitor the second-generation trainers’ 2021 phenomenon of wins as it persists unabated.
Incredibly, the list of practitioners include Anthony Nunes, Gary Subratie, Jason DaCosta, Ian Parsard, Steven Todd, Ryan Darby and Robert Pearson – all currently in the top 10.
The others are Michael Marlowe, Gresford Smith, Christopher Pearson, Errol Waugh, Barrington Dawes and Wayne Parchment, whose mother is the trainer in the family. It is noted that with Parsard’s double and one win each for Marlowe, Subratie and DaCosta the additional five on the nine-race card moves their collective season tally to 168 wins out of 362 races.
The day’s Training Feat Award is presented to Jason DaCosta for the progressive form of Eagle One who displayed the Best Winning Gallop, and Cardenas whose skill and judgement of pace was integral to the success and gets him the Jockeyship Award.