Title-chasing Teven Foster is not pretending to lack concern about his prospects of lifting his first jockey’s championship. The talented reinsman lost the 2024 race 133 to 132 on the final race day of that season to the now two-time and reigning titleholder Raddesh Roman.
What defied explanation was the fact that Foster had all of 62 more rides than his main rival.
Foster looks much improved in tactical approach as well as physical capability and jockeyship.
He was off to the perfect start when 5-2 bet Rejected Raja was saddled by Steven Todd, for a near six-length margin of victory and the first of a double for his stable. The event was run on the five furlongs of the straight course for the $700,000 claimers and staged as the opening event of ten.
Race two went to Patrick Lynch’s Legal Fight, with Foster closing a double easily aboard the 2-1 bet colt, a progeny of Buzz Nightmare who scored by just under four lengths.
Race three saw second-generation trainer Adrian Prince saddling the first two to finish and two on the day. Dutchess (3-1) guided by Tajay Suckoo, was a half-length ahead of US-bred Shooting Star (6-5) in the claiming event, run on the straight course for horses valued at $1.5 or $1.2 million.
Raddesh Roman commenced his response to the form of Foster in race four, a Restricted Allowance III event for horses four years and older with a trip of seven furlongs. Confidence Is High (USA), bet at 2-5, from the camp of Steven Todd to close the stable double, dominated the gallop and won by just over five lengths.
The optional claiming tags of race five were set at $350-250k for a sprint of five and a half furlongs. Global Machine (3-1), entered by owner/trainer Carlton Cunningham, controlled the pace and moved away to a seven-length winning margin, needing only gentle persuasion from reinsman Paul Francis.
Dual jurisdiction conditioner Rohan Crichton, with interest here and in the United States, saddled the first of two winners on the card, with race six going to Call Her Norray (1-2). Ridden by Raddesh Roman, for his second response to Foster, the little Aveenu Malcainu-bred filly was ten lengths the best over the 5 ½ furlongs of the Maiden Condition event restricted to three-year-olds.
Race seven, the third supporting feature, was the sixth staging of the St Elizabeth Distaff for fillies and mares. Supernatural Power (USA), bet at 1-2, was ridden by Demar Williams to score by seven lengths over the one-mile trip and closed the stable double of Adrian Prince, who is fifth on the list of the island’s top ten trainers.
The sixth running of the Graded Stakes Port Royal Sprint, staged as the eighth event over six furlongs, was won from in front by 5-1 shot Dothraki (USA). For his third success on the card, Foster was tactically astute, and the Jason DaCosta-conditioned Into Mischief - bred five-year-old bay horse just lasted home by a neck to deny the threatening late rush of Nautical Star (USA) in this secondary feature.
The featured renewal of the 9 ½-furlong Jamaica Cup, with “win-and-you’re-in” status for the prestigious US$300,000 Mouttet Mile programmed for the first Saturday in December 2026, was staged as the day’s ninth.
The fact of the matter is that the The Prince’s Spur (USA), a seven-year-old bay gelding and a progeny of highly acclaimed stallion Cairo Prince (USA), was turned out in invincible condition by Crichton to confirm the stable double.
The frontrunning effort of The Prince’s Spur (USA), a winner of five races, four seconds and five third-place finishes from 18 starts abroad, to land the odds of 3-2 was especially convincing with over six lengths to spare.
The Prince’s Spur (USA) was Roman’s third to match the feat of arch-rival Foster on the day. Interestingly, Roman will have choices and whatever he does guarantees a lot of support on Mouttet Mile Day.
Roman closed a four-timer aboard Walk the Plank (6-5), declared by former three-time champion Anthony Nunes, scoring by 1½ lengths over the five-furlong straight course run as a Restricted Allowance II for three-year-olds with less than two wins. Roman, now on 75 winners this season, trails chief protagonist Foster by 11 at the end of the Monday card.
