KINGSTON, Jamaica - Apprentice Anthony Allen, with his four-kilogramme claiming allowance still intact has started to show up more and more in the winners’ enclosure.
Allen, like so many others before him, struggled early in the racing industry as he only could manage four winners last year, the first full season riding since beginning his career on September 29, 2018.
With just three race days already gone in the new 2020 racing season, Allen is slowly but surely making his presence felt among the top jockeys.
Already the young man has posted four winners – the same he won last season – to take the lead in the jockeys’ standing.
Last Saturday at the races, Allen, who has been looking much better in the saddle and has been riding with a lot more patience, determination, and confidence, posted a double on the 11-race card. This was his first double.
Allen brought the Donovan Plummer-conditioned Genuine Train with a telling run in deep stretch to win the seventh race, a Restricted Allowance event for native-bred five-year-olds and upwards non-winners of two. Genuine Train won by 1 ¼ lengths ahead of Tradition and Pure Heart going six-and-a-half furlongs (1,300m) in a final time of 1:23.4.
He closed out his double in the 11th and final event aboard Eye Candy, trained by Dennis Lee in an Optional Claiming ($75,000-$700,000) spread over six furlongs (1,200m). Eye Candy, who made one get up, to win by 1 ¾ lengths in a time of 1:12.3 ahead of Baltusrol and King Tavari.
“It is nice to win races, and I give thanks for that, and I am grateful. I want to keep working hard, and hopefully, I can get the rides and produce the winners,” Allen said in his post-race interview.
