Leading rider Lewis boots home three winners
REYAN Lewis’s fine luck in the saddle continued on Saturday’s 10-race card as the current top rider booted home three winners to extend his lead in the jockeys’ title race ahead of incumbent champion Dane Dawkins at Caymnas Park.
Lewis’s successes included three-year-old American-bred bay colt Is That A Fact who easily won the $1.25-million Arthur Jones Memorial Cup feature race over six furlongs (1,200m).
Is That A Fact, who started the race in second place, raced to the front at the half-mile (800m) mark and never looked back. Is That A Fact, owned by Carlton Watson and trained by Jason DaCosta, won the Overnigt Allowance for three-year-olds and up by 7 1/4 lengths against Rojorn Di Pilot (Omar Walker) and I’ve Got Magic (Phillip Parchment). Is That A Fact, who was completing his third-straight triumph, clocked a time of 1:13.0 (23.1 x 47.1) for the distance.
Lewis’s other victories were Ali, who won the first race for new trainer Downell Dawes, and Simba The Lion who won the fifth race for trainer Patrick Lynch. Dawes was riding his first triumph of the season.
Lewis now has 73 winners for the season, 18 more than Dawkins who has 55. Dawkins had won two races with trainer Gary Subratie — Slam Dunk in the fourth race and Money Box in the tenth and final event. Tevin Foster is third in the standings with 47 victories.
Lynch also saddled two winners as he had earlier won with Select Me (Ramon Nepare) in the second event, for a double on the 10-race card.
Racing continues today with a nine-race programme. First post is at high noon.