In the opening event on the nine-race card and run at 1820 metres, 8-1 bet Eazy Peazy was turned out in unbeatable form by conditioner Phillip Lee.
Under smart handling from the improving two-kilogramme claiming jockey Shavon Townsend, the four-year-old bay colt, a progeny of Casual Trick, made all the running to score by three lengths convincingly.
Race two signalled the start of a good day for title-chasing Raddesh Roman eight behind leading protagonist Tevin Foster on 98. For the first of two success on the day former 14-time champion Philip Feanny saddled the first two to finish the 1500-metre contest. Unbelievable Force (USA) with Roman astride won by nearly five lengths ahead of stable mate Firecracker.
Former inmate of the leading Jason DaCosta stable, Lion Of Ekati (USA), ridden by Aaron Chatrie started at odds of 9-5 and did trainer Winston Morris a good turn with a romp exceeding 16 lengths over the 1400 metres of race three.
In race four over the same trip, it was a 12½ winning advantage from in front by 5-2 bet Sir Wong Don (Shane Richardson) declared by Alford Brown.
In race five, champion Reyan Lewis rode 6/1 shot Playfair into winners’ enclosure for trainer Anthony Nunes after the colt’s mild upset successful gallop over the 1300 metres.
In race six, Roman secured his second as maiden Faith Downie (7-1) won the 1100-metre exertion from in front for trainer Victor Williams’ first of the season.
The Raddesh “Sneaky Fox” Roman show was to resume in spectacular fashion. US import Pack Plays (1-2) with winning the Mouttet Mile as his primary objective looked not only out of class but possibly out of country. The US-bred three-year-old colt, a winner on the first of five starts in the USA and conditioned by Ricardo Mathie, skated in 12 ½ lengths clear in a time of 1:17.3 for 1300 metres for Roman’s third.
For Roman’s fourth, near four-length winner of the featured 1400-metre Thunderbird Trophy, Major Danger, (1-1), was the second for trainer Feanny, who also saddled 18-1 bet runner-up Fearless Soul (Paul Francis) to repeat the “one-two” finish of the second event.
Clearly, from his perspective, Roman’s fifth had to be even more satisfying than the previous four combined. Having lost two close finishes, one through disqualification and the other by being outridden by the visiting Panamanian reinsman Victor Sanchez, Roman had sweet revenge in the 1400-metre race nine aboard Spencer Chung’s James (5-2). In a duel inside the last 200 metres James wore down Sanchez’s front running 9-5 favourite She’s Myhedgefund to score by three parts of a length.
