Tevin Foster, Jason DaCosta are the early leaders in their respective title races
Although it is very early days yet, after the first quarter (January–March) the race for the jockeys’ championship in 2023 is already shaping up to be quite interesting.
Tevin Foster made his intentions very clear when he notched 25 winners from 119 mounts for the three months of racing to take the early lead in the race. Foster has a winning percentage of 21.
Although most of Foster’s winners have come from the high-powered barn of former three-time champion trainer Anthony Nunes, in recent times he has been plying his trade on a wider basis. He rode two winners on the last race day (March 25): Scooby for trainer Richard Azan and Blue Sky for trainer Michael Marlowe.
Foster leads Reyan Lewis (18 wins) by seven winners, with defending champion Dane Dawkins occupying third place with 17 wins. Robert Halledeen is fourth with 14 wins, just two wins ahead of Roger Hewitt, who has 12 wins and is in fifth place on the list.
Three-time champion Anthony Thomas, after his exciting battle with Dawkins last year, has been somewhat quiet this time as he occupied sixth place with 11 wins from 81 mounts. Ramon Nepare (nine wins); Omar Walker (seven wins); Javaniel Patterson (six wins); and Christopher Mamdeen (five wins) round out the top 10.
Meanwhile, there is also the expected ding-dong battle between Jason DaCosta and Anthony Nunes in the trainer’s championship. DaCosta leads that affair with $15,566,875 from 16 winners, some $3,399,625 ahead of Nunes on $12,167,250 from 16 winners as well.
Gary Subratie is next with earnings of $8,616,050 from eight winners, ahead of Patrick Lynch with $7,161,400 from 12 winners and Philip Feanny with $7,055,900 from nine wins.
DaCosta, in his first full season as a trainer in Jamaica, ended 2022 with $74,002,650, 85 winners from 519 starts to claim the title. He was $15,474,370 ahead of second-place Gary Subratie, $58,528,280, with 53 winners from 360 attempts. Nunes finished third with $55,821,775, with 61 winners from 414 starts. And things are shaping up to be another battle between the top two guns.
