KINGSTON, Jamaica - With 20 declarations, the divided 1600-metre Errol “Big Sub” Subratie Memorial was programmed as the seventh and ninth events.
Through a strange coincidence induced by the draw Division I ended up with all runners being five years and older, while in Division II six of the starters were four years and younger, including three promising three-year-olds thus condemning anything older to the also-ran positions.
Division I was dominated by five-year-old grey Roy Rogers (3/2), turned out in invincible condition by veteran trainer Dennis Lee and apprentice Nicholas Hibbert, who ensured the gelding remained clear throughout for a final advantage of nearly 12 lengths.
In Division II, Lure of Lucy (8/5), conditioned by Jason DaCosta, confirmed her progression, scoring in game style by 1½ lengths over peer Go Deh Girl, with the other three-year-old, One Don, back in third.
This column extends congratulations to joint champion and current leader Anthony Thomas, whose 400th career-winning ride here has materialised in his fifth season in the saddle.
Veteran reinsman Devon A Thomas rode the Anthony Subratie-trained nine-year-old horse Samora (4/5) to victory in the opening race over 900 metres to make it a hat-trick of wins.
In the day’s second run over 1400 metres, apprentice Jordan Barrett guided Errol Pottinger’s filly Funky Fashion (2/5) to victory by 2 ½ lengths.
Out for her 23rd career start in the third, Chanae (5/2), tuned by Marlon Anderson, running in a maiden event over 1300 metres, was always in control of the score by 2½ lengths, with jockey Linton Steadman moving his tally of wins this season to 19.
Dick Cardenas followed up his three-timer form last race day by grinding out victory by a neck aboard Everal Francis’s Another Cookie (3/5) in the day’s 1400-metre fourth race.
Veteran trainer Delroy Wisdom saddled fifth-race winner, Mother Nature (9/2), for only his second win from 15 starts. Ridden by Paul Francis, the five-year-old grey mare out-sprinted her field by 6 ½ lengths over the 1000-metre straight course.
Trainer Tensang Chung’s progressive three-year-old filly Secret Identity (Javaniel Patterson), third in the 1000 Guineas, nearly blinded 2000 Guineas runner-up Nuclear Noon with speed in winning the 1000-metre sixth event by three lengths at 8/5. The talented light-framed filly clocked a wind-assisted 56.3 for the 1000-metre straight gallop.
Favourite, Fault Line (3/5) raced reluctantly off the pace, where he could see all his rivals for half the distance of the 1400-metre eighth event, confined to three-year-old maidens. Running on strongly from the top of the home stretch under apprentice Shane Richardson, the Philip Feanny-schooled colt beat long-time front-runner Slamsilano by a neck, only managing to get on terms in the final stride.
The Training Feat Award is presented to Tensang Chung for the performance of the versatile Secret Identity, who he conditioned to deliver the Best Winning Gallop. Anthony Thomas gets another Jockeyship Award for his handling of Lure of Lucy by seizing the opportunity to strike the front 500 metres out and persuading the United States-bred filly to sustain her pace to repel the challenges in the stretch run.
