DANE DAWKINS LEADS IN JOCKEYS’ CHAMPIONSHIP WITH 23 wins

Dane Nelson hovering three adrift 

KINGSTON, Jamaica – It’s a case of the ‘Dane’s’, Dawkins, and Nelson leading the jockeys’ championship at the present time.

Dawkins sits atop the top 10 pile with 23 wins from 102 mounts. This young rider has links with three of the larger stables, getting most of his rides from trainers Gary Subratie, Ian Parsard, and Patrick Lynch. Dawkins does not seem to be confined to just these three trainers as he consistently obtains mounts from a wide cross-section of the trainers’ ranks. Plus, he has taken time to learn his craft, and is said to be very professional by coming to work early in the mornings, and applying himself diligently to the tasks at hand.

Dane Nelson is three wins (20) behind leader Dawkins from 79 mounts. Nelson, as is well known, rides in Jamaica for only a portion of the racing year, usually from around November to April of the next year before he goes to Canada to fulfil his contractual obligations. In the past, when Nelson would return from Canada in November, he joins forces with champion trainer Anthony Nunes. Not so this time around, as Nelson rarely rides for Nunes these days, as the champion trainer continues to put-up jockeys Robert Halledeen and Tevin Foster on his horses.

Current jockeys’ champion Anthony Thomas is now third in the top 10 jockeys’ list with 15 wins. Thomas, who is firmly attached to the barn of trainer Jason DaCosta, has made a sedate start in  2022. He is still as professional as ever, yet has been overshadowed, thus far, by Nelson and Dawkins.

Tevin Foster and Robert Halledeen, since linking with Nunes have seen a resurgence in the number of times they visit the winners’ enclosure. Those partnerships started last year and reached their crescendo in the last two months of 2021, with the winners flowing. Foster has ridden 14 winners in 2022 for fourth spot, while Halledeen has 13 wins for fifth.

Veteran rider Shane Ellis has been doing well, winning nine races for position number 6 in the top ten. Ellis is one of the better riders around but because of weight, he finds it difficult, to get the choice mounts at times.

Of the rest, Javaniel Patterson, Youville Pinnock, Paul Francis, and Christopher Mamdeen, are expected to be where they are at present.

The missing jockey from this top ten list at the moment is former champion apprentice Oshane Nugent. This young rider has been rather quiet in 2022, with reports that he is still a regular at exercise, but up to now, Nugent is not getting the rides necessary for him to return to his old form. Let’s wait and see.