FEATURED on the programme of nine races was the Supreme Ventures 24th Anniversary Trophy. Donated to the subsidiary and promoting company Supreme Ventures Racing & Entertainment Limited, the event is expected to be an annualised Open Allowance Graded Stakes run at a distance of five and a half furlongs.

Next year, the 25th anniversary celebration is likely to be more expansive than the relatively low-key recognition it was afforded today. Run as race seven, the outcome was rather anticlimactic as 3-5 favourite Legacy Isle (USA) dominated the gallop to score by nearly 10 lengths.

The time of 1:06.0 is not to be dismissed as unimpressive as the huge, five-year-old, progeny of Shackleford was barely out of a canter over the trip.

Trainer Rohan Crichton was impressed in stating, in his post-race interview, that the horse was fully acclimatised now, enjoys the preparation gallops, and is more aggressive these days. Legacy Isle (USA), a multiple winner in the United States, looked more like when he lost the Mouttet Mile by a neck to Funcaandun (USA), after leading over one furlong out last December.

For champion and leading reinsman Raddesh Roman, his thoughts on riding this, the second of two wins on the day, asserted that all he required was for Legacy Isle (USA) to be alert at the start. Roman’s first was 9-5 favourite Emperofthecats in race four over five and a half furlongs. Owned and trained by Oral Hayden, this winner had to survive a jockey’s objection lodged by fifth-place finisher
Alexa’s Lodge. The stewards disagreed with jockey Paul Francis’s claim his ground was taken by Emperorofthecats half a mile out. The winner, who later drifted right sharply to the grandstand rails in the stretch run, still managed to score by a neck.

Former champion Wesley Henry landed the first of his double success with 7-5 favourite Amad Ali in the five-and-half-furlong opening event. Trained by Errol Subratie, the six-year-old chestnut horse last won in August but was unplaced in his next six starts, before today’s race.

Henry was back in the winners’ enclosure aboard 6-5 bet Lockdown (sixth place in the 2000 Guineas) as the Classic aspirant, trained by Howard Jaghai, outstayed five rivals over the nine furlongs and 25 yards of race two. The progressive form of the Philip Feanny-conditioned three-year-old colt Rideallday (USA) continued as he was never off the bridle over the seven-and-half-furlong trip of race three. Ridden by veteran Ian Spencer, the strapping dark-grey has now won three of four career starts and will next be seen at the Overnight Allowance level where his rise to Graded Stakes Open Allowance will not be delayed.

Although slowly into stride, favourite at odds of 4-5 Uncle Peck (USA) lost no time in sprinting to lead his six rivals all the way and eventually two and three parts of a length clear at the end of the one-mile gallop of race five.

The maiden colt’s win was the first success of the season for both trainer Dale Murphy and seven-pound claiming rider Romario Spencer. Based on a May 23 10-length, second-place finish to Bob The Builder, whose subsequent run was three parts of second to Sensational Soul in the 2000 Guineas, maiden colt Cop Car was sent off the 2-1 backed favourite in race six over seven and a half furlongs. Confident claiming rider Demar Williams came home two and a half lengths clear of 11 rivals on the Everald Francis-trained Cop Car. Champion and leading trainer Jason DaCosta saddled the winners of races eight and nine.

Firstly Shane Ellis, “The Canter Man”, gave a riding lesson to Raddesh “The Sneaky Fox” Roman in race eight. Ellis and Roman were contemplating their tactical move but the former surprised the latter as he induced a sudden injection of pace aboard Provident (6-1) to lead 800 yards from the finish of the seven-and-half-furlong exertion. Roman’s response on the favoured Oil Machine (1-1) was immediate. However, he had succumbed already to the enterprise of Ellis, and further, came out second best in the war of attrition and jockeyship skill set from the distance.

Roman failed by a half-length, much to the chagrin of his fanatical supporters, to get Oil Machine on terms with Provident before the line. Secondly, for the DaCosta stable, the inherent class of California Clown (2-1), a versatile sort who won the 2024 eight-furlong 2000 Guineas, came in two lengths clear of the thoroughly game, genuine and consistent favourite Money Market (8-5). Ridden by Robert Halledeen, California Clown looked exceptionally well in the post parade and had a bit in hand at the end of the contest over the minimum trip on the round course in a time of 1:00.3.

The Training Feat Award goes to Oral Hayden for the performance of Emperorofthecats. The consistent six-year-old bay gelding, who was kept to sprinting on the straight course, was presented in good enough condition to win on the round course and deliver the Best Winning Gallop. Shane Ellis, for the reasons stated above, is presented with the Jockeyship Award for performing a masterclass in race eight.