Recently, I was asked to speak about the best thoroughbreds to race at Caymanas Park since the August 22, 1959 running of the first race on a sand surface, replacing grass. There is no question that each decade since then, there have been outstanding performances. For practical purposes, in doing an analysis, a decade-by-decade review makes for an interesting review.

A useful guide is the Horse-Of-The-Year(HOTY) Award, initiated in 1965 and won by a six-year-old US-bred mare, Bonnie Blue Flag, who took the accolade, trained by Michael Silvera, and repeated the feat in 1966 when conditioned by his brother Laurie. Interestingly, in 1974 the Award went to Eight Thirty(USA), trained by their father Owen.

The first decade at Caymanas saw the likes of outstanding filly Ska, the 1966 Derby winner, and all-time great sprinter None Such, the 1967 awardee with legendary weight-defying performances.
None “The Train” Such was trained by the great Hall-Of-Fame inductee Alan E. “Billy” Williams. He returned from working as head groom at the stables of trainer Captain William Elsey in the North of England in 1963 and promptly won the Jamaica Derby with Thank You Sir that same year.

Rameses, the 1968 Derby winner, exploits at two years included an A1 class rating and second to Kilowatt(GB) in the inaugural Gold Cup 1967. This juvenile champion went on to be assigned a weight of 112lbs in the World Handicap Rating for his performances in the local top class at three years old. However, unfortunately for trainer Arthur McKenzie and his son Tony, the owner, the strong, stocky grey colt collapsed and died following a race early in his third season.

Heavyweight jockey Kenneth Mattis, who later became a seven-time champion trainer, was the regular rider of the aforementioned None Such. Extraordinarily, the all-time great horseman saddled Legal Light, HOTY honouree in 1978 & 79, to close the second decade and begin the third with Royal Dad, the first Caymanas Triple Crown winner in 1981, taking the Award. Uncannily, in 1982 Royal Dad’s third-season demise was the same as that of Rameses in 1969.

Notably, the decade of the seventies was also quite interesting; in addition to Legal Light, the emergence of three imported horses had a significant impact in highlighting the quality of the then horse population. Monte’s Stitch(USA), trained by Arthur Sharpe, toted 140lbs to win the 1972 Gold Cup for a unanimous HOTY vote, as well as Eight Thirty(USA) in1974) and Hot Line(USA) in 1976, conditioned by Owen Silvera and Nigel B. Nunes, respectively, for similar weight-defying feats in other handicap races.

In terms of quality, the decade of the 80s saw the immortal emergence of seven locally foaled thoroughbreds. As mentioned above, Royal Dad delivered the Triple Crown in 1981, Monday Morning in 1987, Liu Chie Poo in 1988, and The Viceroy in 1989.

Legal Light.

It is really quite extraordinary that in the 80s, in addition to four Triple Crowns, the breeders produced local Classic winners Kaz Hosay (1982), then Sir Howard (1983) and Thornbird (1984), third and fourth in their respective Caribbean Classic races, for three-year-olds in Puerto Rico declared HOTY champions as well.

The main criterion for the HOTY is performance in the top class. Remarkably, following Royal Dad (1981), Kaz Hosay (1982), Sir Howard (1983), Thornbird (1984), Prince Consort (1986), Monday Morning(1987), Liu Chie Poo(1988), and The Viceroy(1988 & 1990), all claimed the prestigious title.

Incidentally, only the brilliant weight-defying sprinter Dye Job(USA), establishing two track records, was the HOTY winner in 1985 as the only importee honouree of the decade. For emphasis, be advised also that The Viceroy registered a third lien on the Horse-Of-The-Year crown at six years old in 1992.

The significance of 1992 cannot be overstated since that was the final year of the handicap system, which yielded 115.3 runners per day running in either 11.23 races for the 84 days of programmes for that season. In the last 33 years of delivering the racing product in a claiming system model, this performance has not been replicated.

Despite the concerns expressed by two outstanding and influential breeders, Howard Hamilton and the late PHO Russeau, that the introduction of the flawed American claiming system would be detrimental to the growth of the breeding industry, it went unheeded in 1993. In a future column, I will look at other great horses and breeders.

Watch this space and contact wesmartin@horseracing.com.