Tekapunt, at odds of 10-1, opened his three-year-old season with an enlightening victory in the Sir Howard Stakes (three-year-old colts and geldings) at Caymanas Park on Sunday, March 13, 2022.

The Bruce Levy-owned and bred bay colt by Northern Giant out of Just A Flutter, trained by Jason DaCosta and well ridden by his regular rider jockey Phillip Parchment, won the 1,200 metres event by three parts of a length from 87 -1 outsider, Shadowfax, ridden by jockey Reyan Lewis. Tekapunt covered distance in a time of 1:14.3 seconds with supporting fractions of 23.2 x 47.3 seconds. It was the same final time clocked by Prncsshootingstar in the female version of the Sir Howard, the Hot Line Stakes, 24 hours before. Power (Linton Steadman) finished third 1 ¼ lengths behind Shadowfax. Blue Vinyl (Dane Dawkins) closed the frame in the field of nine.

Parchment, who has ridden Tekapunt in seven out of his eight starts, said he was confident going into the Sir Howard.

“I thought I had a good chance of winning in the Sir Howard. Though the distance was on the sharp side, he was properly prepared for this race after coming out of his final two-year-old events, including the Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes, quite disappointing.

“ Tekapunt came into this race quite nice with good preparation. He got the time to train properly and he did so, and even though it was the first race after the Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes failure and his three-year-old start-up season first run, he came up big time from the efforts of trainer DaCosta and his assistants, and has good scope to work on with the Classic season in sight,” Parchment said.

The jockey added: “I came down with a lot of horse in my hands and I was confident at the three furlong marker that I could pass the two horses ahead of me when it was time to do so. My view is that Tekapunt will be effective at the longer distances.”

THE ANALYSIS

A good return to competitive racing by Tekapunt, who was extensively warmed-up by his rider before the start of the race, giving the indication that he is going to be even better, the longer the races become. With the colts and geldings’ section of this three-year-old season bereft of a definitive leader, Tekapunt is as good as any currently racing.

Shadowfax ran the race of his life to finish second and given the status of his cohort anything is possible. The rest of the pack has a lot of work to do, including Perfect Brew the 1-5 favourite in the Sir Howard. This was Perfect Brew’s, one of the better colts of last year, first run this year, so it might be two early to judge. Let’s wait and see.