Eight runners reported to the starter for the featured Pick 3 “Super Challenge” Trophy staged as the ninth event on the 10-race card. This 1,400-metre event is the second leg of the juvenile “Triple Crown” with the opener being the Cash Pot “Only One For Me” Trophy over 1,200 metres and the Supreme Ventures Jamaica Two-Year-Olds Stakes, the final race of the series run traditionally as the annual Boxing Day attraction over 1,600 metres.

Included in the field was first-leg winner Slammer and runner-up Perfect Brew both trained by Richard Azan and ridden by Dick Cardenas and Oshane Nugent, respectively, but neither figured in the finish this time. Trainer Jason DaCosta, who saddled Tekapunt (Phillip Parchment) and Deezie (Anthony Thomas) is of the view that Brinks (Omar Walker), schooled by Ian Parsard, is the “most impressive of the foals of 2020 seen so far.”

Princesshootingstarr (Linton Steadman) from the Philip Feanny outfit finished third after leading and pursued by Ian Parsard’s Brinks who assumed the lead approaching the distance and stayed on well under the guidance of Omar Walker to score by just over three lengths. Clearly, Tekapunt (16/1), who finished second with a late rush, is improving and will relish racing over distances exceeding this trip.

The time of 1:27.1 returned by Brinks is not to be scoffed at. The field ran against the wind down the backstretch and this clocking should be theoretically adjusted downward by more than one second. The Parsard/Walker combination had a second on the day with US importee and 3/5 favourite Classical Orb thoroughly outstaying to slip away boy over six lengths.

Trainer Welsh Soutar is to be hailed for his patience in preparing Storm Valley (Youville Pinnock) to win the opener at 3/1. Having claimed the seven-year-old horse a year ago, Soutar was only able to race him three times prior to this event. In the day’s second, Helicopter, conditioned by veteran Gordon Lewis and piloted by Chalrick Budhai, ran gamely when it mattered to score by a short head over High Diplomacy (Dick Cardenas).

Speaking of patience trainer Donovan Plummer has it in abundance as evidenced by Golden Emperor (Roger Hewitt) winning for only the second time in 60 starts in the third event to justify 4/5 favouritism. This cleared the way for joint 2020 champion and 2021 designate Anthony Thomas to win the first of three on the day.

Saddled by title-chasing Jason DaCosta, Uncle Frank (4/5), well off at the weights, won the 1,600-metre fourth at odds of 4/5 with Thomas working overtime to get the reluctant seven-year-old to deny long-time leader Let Him Fly (Tevin Foster) a third-consecutive win.

Half an hour later, DaCosta and Thomas, the most productive trainer/jockey collaboration this year, was back in the winners’ enclosure when lightly raced Super Duper (5/1) outsprinted 11 rivals to win the fifth over 1,000 metres straight. The potent combination added a third triumph with Tradition (3/2) cruising home by over six lengths in race six contested over 1400 metres.

Starting at odds of 5/2, Richard Azan’s Eroy (Oshane Nugent) won for the fourth time from 11 starts this season. The US-bred four-year-old colt was given a clever tactical ‘rail skimming’ ride in the 1,500-metre seventh to ensure he had no prospect of displaying his concerning tendency run wide at the turns. Robert Halledeen rode winner number 30 this season in piloting Gary Subratie’s JJ’s Warrior (7/2) to be in front at the end of the 1,300-metre gallop of the eighth event.

For the aforementioned reason Welsh Soutar is presented with Training Feat Award for the performance Storm Valley in the opening event. Eroy and Brinks share the Best Winning Gallop Award for their display of the requisite speed, stamina and courage but Oshane Nugent is preferred for the Jockeyship Award for his decisiveness in sticking to the pre-race tactics at the risk of being denied running room where it could have mattered.