UP until 1974 the Jamaica Guineas was a futurity contested by eligible three-year-olds over a distance of nine furlongs.

The following year, the separation of the sexes heralded the commencement of the British model of 1000 and 2000 Guineas over eight furlongs. Therefore, with the first leg of the traditional Triple Crown having two winners, it made for more intriguing seasons of Classic races.

This 50th renewal, staged as race 10, did not generate any significant talking points. The Ian Parsard-conditioned Run Julie Run (Reyan Lewis), having been the runner-up in the premier, one-mile, Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes, confirmed her promise with a nine-length margin of superiority in the 7½-furlong Classic trial, The Portmore.

Backed at odds of 2-5, Run Julie Run dominated proceedings in the Guineas to score by nearly five lengths. She is now being touted as a safe bet to be competitive when pitted against the opposite sex in the remaining Classics.

The opening event of the 10 races ended in victory for Bestdaughterinlaw (4-5) over 800 metres of the straight course. Ridden by two-kilogramme claimer Shane Richardson for the first of two successes on the card, the fleet-footed, lightly raced five-year-old mare won by a head in game fashion for trainer Vincent Atkinson.

Race two, a Restricted Stakes over five furlongs straight for three-year-olds and older, went to the US-bred three-year-old Chocomo (3-1), with Robert Halledeen executing the riding honours for a two-length win margin for champion and current leading conditioner Jason DaCosta.

In race three, over the same distance, Sniper Man (5/2) was just under a length in front with Panamanian Josue Osorio aboard for trainer Gregg Fennell’s first of two on the day.

Supporting the feature and staged as the fourth event was the 22nd renewal of the seven-furlong Eros Trophy. Two-time Horse of the Year and top-rated campaigner Atomica (1-2), ridden by former six-time champion Omar Walker for trainer Gary Subratie, conceded weight all round and bettered four-year-old US-bred colt Is That A Fact (receiving kilogrammes) by three parts of a length. Champion Atomica was faultless with her speed, stamina and courage.

Trainer Rohan Crichton’s US importee Provocativa (3-1), a winner at Tampa Bay Downs and Gulfstream Park, won the 7½-furlong fifth event by over five lengths to secure the riding double of Shane Richardson. The five-year-old mare was recording her first success on local soil.

Half an hour later leading reinsman Tevin Foster rode Biblical Legend (6-5) to victory over the seven furlongs of race six. She was declared by Gregg Fennell for this stable’s second on the card.