Ability returns in style
Last year’s Jamaica Derby winner Ability, who was second to Rough Entry in the Mouttet Mile on December 2, 2023, made a successful seasonal debut on Saturday, January 27, 2024.
Trained by Patrick Lynch and ridden by Romario Spencer, Ability defeated rivals by a length and three quarters in the $1.19-million Restricted Stakes contest for imported three-year-olds and upward (non-winners of three) and native-bred three-year-olds and four-year-olds (non-winners of four) over 7 furlongs (1,400m).
Ability won in a time of 1:29.0 (23.4 x 46.2 x 1:12.2).
Ability settled in mid-pack down the backstretch before picking up on the lead approaching the bend and came home handily in the end.
Norblar (Christopher Mamdeen) finished in second place and
Rejected Raja (Shavon Townsend) finished third.
“I rode the horse [Ability] how the trainer said I must ride him. I must ride with patience; I don’t have to kill him out or ask him to do too much because whenever I ask him, he will go.
“And so I just waited, when I reached the half-mile, I asked him to move and at the three furlongs, he just took over and that was that. He is a quality horse, big horse, very nice horse,” Spencer told the Jamaica Observer’s The Supreme Racing Guide.