A divided Overnight Allowance staged as races nine and ten over the five furlongs straight course was featured on the Sunday card.
These races staged to honour the memory of 1972 champion Nigel B Nunes, whose sons Anthony and Andrew have emulated his feat with titles in Jamaica and Barbados respectively.
In fact, patriarch Nigel and matriarch Hillis, a distinguished owner and breeder, with their sons are one of the two great racing families. The other is the Husseys, headed by trainer Laurie and Ruth, a prominent breeder and owner, with their sons Percy, who trained and Charles, one the five greatest ever champion jockeys of all time.
Both divisions had fields of ten on a card which attracted 77 declarations, of which 45 were at least five years old. Incidentally, there were nine odds-on favourites and only one at even money on the programme of ten races, thus underscoring the decline of the numbers in the horse population.
The division into at least 19 categories facilitating the delivery of the racing product in the provably flawed claiming system has created the, downward trajectory in quality and financial losses which has no chance of a reversal.
In the first division run as race nine, Bootylicious (2-5), despite top weight (126 lbs) used her class and controlling the pace of the race to score by three lengths over the gallop of five furlongs straight. Ridden by champion and 2025 designate, Raddesh Roman to close a three-timer, the five-year-old mare, trained by Peter-John Parsard, has now won 10 of her 21 career starts.
Roman’s first came aboard Anthony Nunes’ Tigeramedat (USA), a winner by three lengths and a quarter over the seven and a half furlongs of race three.
This was followed by Gary Crawford’s He Stands Alone (3-1) scoring by half a length in race five, run at five furlongs straight.
For his second of two winners on the card trainer Robert Pearson, presented Get A Pepsi, bet at 7/2 and declared claimer Richard Henry keeping the speedy six-year-old horse in front to win the second division of the feature by just over two lengths.
The second-generation conditioner’s first of the two for his stable came in race two with maiden and 6-5 choice The Leviticus (Demar Williams) more than seven lengths clear at the end of the six furlongs run.
Ridden by Jemar Jackson, 23-1 outsider Dimetry P won the seven-furlong opening event by a margin of one length to give trainer Colin Ferguson the first two on the day.
Ferguson returned to the winners’ enclosure with Yorkist (3-1) with Trevor Johnson, absent for a number of years, the winning rider of race four over the straight course. Jackson was winning his first of the year from 14 rides, while trainer Ferguson has now won six races from 30 declarations this year.
In race six over the straight course, thoroughly game, genuine and consistent Emperorofthecats (Robert Halledeen), saddled by champion Jason DaCosta, scored by a head at 3-1and is now a winner of 17 races from 37 career starts.
The seventh event, over seven furlongs went to Skyrizi (3-1) in a near seven-length runaway with Phillip Parchment astride for trainer Donovan Plummer.
Hard knocking Mack And Rome (2-1), ridden by Shane Ellis was presented in invincible condition by trainer Saqlain Roman. Having his ninth run of the season, with six placings, Mack And Rome dominated the early fractions and sprinted clear from the top of the home stretch to be seven lengths the best over the seven furlongs of race eight.
