KINGSTON, Jamaica - Wow Wow, the champion two-year-old of last year, returned to the track on Saturday last (February 8) and continued from where he left off — a winner.
Contesting a distance of six and a half furlongs (1,300 metres), Wow Wow this time displayed his versatility by winning with a clocking of 1:18.2, which was an improvement of three-fifths of a second when compared with the time he posted on October 5, 2019 for the same journey.
Not the best away at the off, jockey Ameth Robles on board held the Casual Trick-Sarah Barracuda colt in check to allow him enough time to gather himself following a rest of 44 days. Robles eased the colt along in a calculated manner, as it was somewhat surprising for Wow Wow not to take over the lead.
At the top of the straight, again surprisingly, Wow Wow was still behind the leader, the fast filly She’s A Hit (Trevor Simpson).
Wow Wow then gathered momentum and went by She’s A Hit, but he still had to hold off the challenge of Nipster ridden by Anthony Thomas.
At one stage Nipster looked like a real threat but Wow Wow pulled away to win by two lengths. This was a victory that was earned and not a runaway.
Nipster finished second ahead of Another Affair (Dane Dawkins) to complete a one-two-three placing for owner/breeder Michros. The splits for this Restricted Stakes for native-bred three-year-olds were 22.2 x 45.3 x 1:11.0.
“Winning is a key factor because money is there. Preparation coming into the race was perfect as Wow Wow showed definite signs of improvement by posting a time of 1:18.2 against the 1:19.0 he did last year.
“I was a little light with the training coming into this race because I did not want to press him too much. I wanted him to be sharp for this race. He got interfered with at the gates and got set behind, and that was fine — the rider just decided to sit off the pace and finish strong.
“What I wanted him [Wow Wow] to do was to get some sand in his face today [Saturday] to see his reaction. He did get some sand in his face, and he came through.
“This race was part of a training programme. His next race is a mile, and we will see how that goes,” Subratie advised.
