IN another super-sprinting display, four-year-old bay gelding Emperorofthecats outran competitors to win the $1.25-million Ahwhofah Sprint Trophy feature at Caymanas Park on Sunday.

Bred, owned, and trained by Carl Anderson and ridden by Shavon Townsend, Emperorofthecats won the Overnight Allowance contest for three-year-olds and upward over six furlongs by 4 1/2 lengths in a decent time of 1:13.0 (22.4 x 46.1).

God of Love, ridden by Robert Halledeen, took the lead at the start, followed by Press Conference (Richard Henry) and Duke (Dane Dawkins). Emperorofthecats, however, swiftly surrounded runners and sprinted to the front of the field as the half-mile (800m) approached, with God of Love, KP Choice (Andrew Wright), and Duke chasing.

Emperorofthecats continued to pull away from rivals as the race neared the home bend, and with no genuine challenger in deep stretch the Emperor Hall offspring glided home to win easily ahead of Burlap (Tevin Foster) and Duke.

Emperorofthecats provided two winners for both Anderson and Townsend on the nine-race card. Anderson had earlier saddled Crucial Alexxya (Raddesh Roman) in the seventh race to complete his double while Townsend had earlier ridden Little Grovy Thing for trainer Errol Burke in the sixth race to complete his double. In addition to Crucial Alexxya, Roman won the second race for trainer Steven Todd with Wilson, for a double as well.

Todd also finished the day with two as his two-year-old Oh So Smart (Tevin Foster) won the $1.01-million Starters’ Trophy.

Racing continues on the weekend with races on Saturday and Sunday.

— Ruddy Allen