POWER Ranking, a three-year-old bay colt bred by Casual Trick out of Escandalosa, showed signs of progression in his dominating run when landing the $1.05-million O&S Tack Room feature race on Sunday, August 28, 2022, at Caymanas Park.

Power Ranking, trained by Richard Azan, a usual front running sort, came from behind horses, showing his versatility, to easily win by 2½ lengths in a three-year-old, native-bred four-year-olds (non-winners of four), and imported three-year-olds and upwards (non-winners of three) over 6½ furlongs (1,300m).

Ridden by Dane Dawkins, Power Ranking broke well when the starter pushed the start button, racing behind the leaders but quickly went down in fourth place. Awesome Rich (Shavon Townsend) led the field ahead of Buzz City Light (Anthony Thomas) and Yellowstone (Oshane Nugent) down the backstretch.

Power Ranking took time to get his footing and when he did, the three-year-old bay colt went by rivals and took control of the race going into the half-mile (800m) turn. Although he was headed by Luksol (Jerome Innis) approaching the distance, Power Ranking battled on bravely and regained the ascendency in deep stretch, powering home inside the final furlong (200m). Yellowstone came through for second place ahead of Luksol. After splits 23.0 x 46.4 x 1:13.2, the final time was recorded at 1:21.0.

“The instruction from the trainer was to get a good break and go straight for the lead. I ended up not getting a good break but I kept him [Power Ranking] well relaxed and made him pick it up on his own.

“Leaving the half-mile, Power Ranking found the lead comfortably and I just waited for the last two furlongs. When I asked him to go, he responded well and drew clear of rivals to win. It was a good win and a good performance as well,” Dawkins concluded.