On an eerily muted early Sunday afternoon, apprentice Shaheen Gordon, a 2024 graduate of the Jamaica Racing Commission Riding School, followed up his double success 24 hours earlier with another on day two of this weekend's card of ten races each race meet.
It was 19/1 against his mount Skyrizi, declared by Donovan Plummer, but Gordon delivered a master class inside the final furlong of the five-and-a-half-trip of the opening event.
Gordon, locked in a match of skills with reigning two-time champion Raddesh Roman, the promising reinsman displayed the requisite composure and athletic ability for Skyrizi to prevail by a neck over 2-1 bet Talona (USA).
Gordon showed even more of his promise in race three aboard Starraura (5-1) over the seven and a half furlongs of race three. In front immediately, the Jason DaCosta-conditioned four-year-old filly got the benefit of Gordon’s excellent judgement of pace to deny Roman aboard the 6-5 favourite Bob The Builder by a neck. With this success, Gordon confirmed his two-timer and the opener of two on the day for the DaCosta outfit as well.
Trainer Gary Griffiths saddled maiden colt Red Thirty-Two (6-1), who won the day’s second with Tevin Foster at the reins for the six-furlong trip.
For race four, second-generation trainer Adrian Prince presented Midnight Runner (6-5) with Tyrese Anderson riding to a romp of nearly nine lengths over the five and a half furlongs.
The fans were bored with another romp in race five, with the 2022 champion, Dane Dawkins, mostly motionless, with the Phillip Lee entry, Golden Lawyer, being seven lengths the best at the end of the seven-furlong exertion.
The romps or runaways, if you will, were extended to race six, with maiden Newspaperofrecord (3-1), trained by Errol Burke and ridden by Anthony Allen, skating in by 11 lengths for the five-and-a-half-furlong sprint race victory.
To close the DaCosta stable double, Miss MoneyPenny, partnered by Robert Halledeen, came home two and a half lengths clear of her nearest rival at the end of the five and a half furlongs of race seven.
Following which, the wide-margin victories resumed in race eight with Heroine (5-1) executing a runaway of over eight lengths at the seven-furlong trip with claimer Richard Shakes.
The featured Trevor “Slicer” Simpson Trophy honouring the exploits of the former outstanding reinsman was staged as race nine. Simpson won the title for the first time in 1989 and repeated the feat in 1992. The all-time great reinsman had an unbreakable record 172-win tally in 2002, before adding the 2003, and his fifth and final title in 2004.
The Trophy event was won by five-year-old Steven Todd-conditioned mare She’s That Girl (1-2), with a winning distance of 11½ lengths when the winning post signalled the completion of five and a half furlongs, with no intervention from apprentice rider Tajay Suckoo to underline the day’s runaway triumphs with authority.
The closing event, run over five and a half furlongs, went to even-money bet First Offence, guided by Jemar Jackson to a score line of just over one length for veteran owner/trainer Carl Anderson. Formerly, being heavily invested in breeding horses he trains successfully, it was a rare occasion for Anderson to saddle a winner that was bred elsewhere.
