BLUE Vinyl, last year’s Jamaica 2000 Guineas and St Leger winner, faces five rivals in this afternoon’s $1.4-million Mark My Word Trophy feature, which should be a walk in the park for the four-year-old.

On paper Blue Vinyl appears to be the horse to beat, and with good reason. This season the Alford Brown trainee has raced five times, winning on three occasions and placing second once.

Blue Vinyl’s most recent race was a seven-furlong (1,400m) loss to excellent American-bred Is That A Fact, in the Poorlitllerichgirl Trophy on September 16. Blue Vinyl had won the Kenneth Matthis Memorial Trophy on September 10 in a time of 1:57.0 over today’s distance of nine furlongs and 25 yards (1,820m).

Blue Vinyl has worked well in preparation for this event, clocking five and a half furlongs (1,100m) in 1:07.4 and the final five furlongs (1,000m) in 1:01.1. Based on his training Blue Vinyl should win, and it will take something remarkable from the other five runners in the field to deny him. Javaniel Patterson is still riding.

The three-year-old and upward Open Allowance event which honours Mark My Word, the 2010 Triple Crown winner and three-time consecutive winner of the coveted Superstakes, is positioned as the seventh event on the nine-race card at Caymanas Park with a post time of 3:55 pm. First race is at 12:15 pm.

The race’s most intriguing aspect is determining who will finish second to Blue Vinyl, and the only horse that appears to fit that role is Miniature Man. The Jason DaCosta-trained Miniature Man finished 3 1/2 lengths behind Atomica in the Menudo Trophy at 10 furlongs (2,000m) on September 23. Miniature Man had practically all of the runners here behind him that day, making him the ideal candidate for the excata. The field is completed by Outbidder, D Head Cornerstone, I Realise, and Gone A Negril.