KINGSTON, Jamaica - Following Mahogany’s romp in the prestigious Gold Cup on Saturday, October 22, 2022, trainer Ian Parsard is indicating that his well-decorated runner, who is currently the top-rated horse in the country, will not race before the Invitational Mouttet Mile.
The Mouttet Mile, which carries a purse of US $125,000, the richest for a single racing event in the Caribbean, is set for December 3, 2022.
“To be honest, all the folks with good horses are looking forward to that big race, the Mouttet Mile. That could be his last race of the year for Mahogany because we are not going to race him in November. I’ll talk to the owners and we will make a decision, but most likely we are not going to see him back until December,” Parsard told The Supreme Racing Guide.
“Hopefully he [Mahogany] can stay sound as he has that one big race at the end of the year. Every time it comes to the end of the season, when it is the time to get the best out of Mahogany, unfortunately, something goes wrong, but we have always tried to protect him because we all know that he is a super special horse,” Parsard added.
Mahogany, who carried a top weight of 57.0kg (126 lb), won the three-year-old and upwards Open Allowance/Graded Stakes by three lengths ahead of the pair of foreigners, Runaway Algo (Christopher Mamdeen) and I Am Fred (Anthony Thomas). Mahogany (Sensational Slam–Mete-Orite) completed the distance of 7 furlongs (1,400m) in a time of 1:25.3 (23.2 x 46.4 x 1:11.0).
“I am very satisfied with the win. To win by giving these very good horses so much weight is a testimony to how good Mahogany is. I mean, he is the star of the show, and we are just blessed to be a part of him. His preparation coming into the Gold Cup was quite easy. He did come out of a race where though he got beaten, he ran 1:11.3 and before that he worked 1:12 and change, so he was fit.
“We took it easy for a while and then gave him a nice sharpening work last Sunday [October 16], which he did well.”I mean, when he went through 35.0 seconds by himself, you know that Mahogany was well, and so he was pretty much where we wanted him to be.
“Leaving the half-mile, I saw that he was in the perfect position and the lighter more dangerous rivals were in trouble because they were behind him and he was going to get a nice and smooth run. I was really looking forward to a kick at the top of the lane and when he provided that kick, I knew that they were not going to get back to him and so at that stage, I figured that the race was won,” explained Parsard.
Parsard also credited jockey Reyan Lewis for his brilliant ride aboard Mahogany.
“Reyan Lewis rode Mahogany very well.
“We have different discussions going on with jockeys, but today I have to give him kudos as I thought he did every single thing perfectly and yes, Mahogany is the star, but the second star has to be Reyan Lewis as I thought he did an amazing job,” said Parsard.
