Race Day Review — Sunday, December 10, 2023
The complicated non-classification of the horse population continues to produce farcical races of small fields with huge numbers of winners returning freakishly wide margins of victory at cramped odds.
The result of the opening event is a case in point where even-money favourite Jon P, ridden by 2019 champion Christopher Mamdeen for trainer Colin Ferguson, won by nearly 14 lengths over a trip as short as 1,100 metres.
Race two was gifted to the Steven Todd-declared Wilson (1-2) for the stable’s first of two with Raddesh Roman securing the first of a riding double with no challenge to arrive at the winning post aboard the eight-year-old bay gelding by just over five lengths ahead of its overmatched rivals.
Race three, restricted to juveniles, was won in workmanlike style by nicely named debutant Oh So Smart (7-1) scoring by over four lengths for Todd’s long-standing patron Garth Samuels. Tevin Foster was the winning rider.
Reyan Lewis, 2023 champion jockey designate, had an easy six-length victory aboard Spencer Chung’s progressive three-year-old sprinter Chez Le-Vee in the 1,000 metres race four.
Over a similar distance for race five, a sudden return to form by Donovan Plummer’s Bugatti, formerly schooled by Anthony Nunes, rewarded his backers the odds of 20-1 with two-kilogramme claimer Jordan Barrett supplying the riding honours.
It was back to another runaway winner in the sixth event, run at 1,000 metres straight, with three kilo claimer Shavon Townsend riding the first of two winners aboard Little Grovy Thing (7-2) saddled by Errol Burke.
Raddesh Roman closed his double aboard 4-5 bet Crucial Alexxa in race seven over 1,000 metres round. The hard-knocking attractive grey filly was successful in this her 24th appearance under the guidance of breeder/owner/trainer Carl Anderson for the first of a stable double.
Another hard-knocking sort in the form of Who Doneit (3-2) was a winner. After several placed finishes, the four-year-old maiden colt rewarded owner/trainer Arnold Rambally (Jnr) for his perseverance. Ruja Lahoe, who spends more time working abroad than locally, had this as his only winner from 18 rides this season to date and may have been surprised by the eight-and-a-half lengths margin of victory.
Townsend’s best day in the saddle this season was confirmed with an easy victory aboard Emperorofthecats in the featured $1.2 million Ahwofah Sprint run at 1,200 metres, registering the Carl Anderson stable double.
The useful but difficult-to-train, four-year-old bay gelding, having been absent since the fourth week of May this year, was posted in unbeatable condition and cruised in by over four lengths. Interestingly, Anderson is ninth on the top 10 list of 2023 winning trainers and third in breeders’ standings.
The Training Feat Award is presented to Anderson for the performance of Emperorofthecats, returning from an extended absence to execute the Best Winning Gallop and perhaps signalling that the next season could be a productive one.
Jordan Barret gets the Jockeyship Award for the degree of difficulty encountered in winning race five in a three-cornered struggle with the margins being a measurement of two heads separating them.