KINGSTON, Jamaica – While the trainers’ race has engulfed the attention of most racing fans, the quarterly championships among the jockeys has also developed into a keen tussle.
Reigning champion Anthony Thomas and Robert Halledeen started the 11-race Sunday Boxing Day card with 21 wins each.
Thomas drew first blood by piloting the Maurice Crooks trained Versatile Vision to victory in the fourth race, which was a three-year-old and upwards Claiming call ($1,000,000 - $800,000) travelling seven furlongs.
Racing for her new trainer for the first occasion, Thomas kept Versatile Vision off the pace set by Dejae’s Boy followed by Rohan Kabir (Abigail Able).
When the horses turned for home it was still Dejae’s Boy in front as Thomas choose to go on the inside rails but had to quickly switch as Dejae Boy moved across to close the gap. But Versatile Vision regathered quickly and then pounced with a furlong to go winning easily by 1 ¼ lengths.
Dejae’s Boy was second and Rohan Kabir third. This was the third win in a row by Versatile Vision and the second this season for trainer Crooks.
| RACE 4 3YO & UP CLAIMING ($1M-$800K) 7 FURLONGS 12:35 PM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| POS | NO.# | HORSE | JOCKEY | ODDS | WIN | PLACE | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Versatile Vision | Anthony Thomas | 3-1 | $209.00 | $57.00 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | 4 | Dejae's Boy | Linton Steadman | 3-5 | $52.50 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | 6 | Rohan Kabir | Abigail Able | 6-1 | $62.00 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | 5 | Blood Song | Matthew Bennett | 10-1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | 2 | Another Bullet | Tevin Foster | 2-1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| TRAINER: Maurice Crooks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LNS: #1 Sebastian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Splits: 24.1 x 47.2 x 1:12.4 - Final Time: 1:27.0 - Margins: 1 1/4 by 1 1/4 - 7 RAN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ex: $391 | T/Fecta: $295 | Triple: $1,782 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| D/E: $597 | S/Fecta: $1,126 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
