THE feature None Such Sprint Trophy was programmed as the eighth event on the ten-race card. The point must be made that one three-year-old sprinter had made the transition to this Open Allowance level or was thought good enough to merit a declaration. This is certainly a reflection of the continuous lack of quality in the horse population which has been manifested for over three decades.
Incidentally, None Such, the great sprinter being honoured with each renewal of this event, on his way to a record eight consecutive victories, was promoted to the top class (A1) at two years. This was followed by 1968 Derby winner Rameses two years later who achieved a weight of 51 kilos in the British Jockey Club World Free Handicap table when his performances at three were submitted for ratification.
Seven faced the starter for the 1200-metre sprint and the betting was surprisingly in favour of the Ian Parsard-trained 1000 Guineas and Oaks heroine She’s A wonder (3/2) who, although scoring over the trip a month ago, in her last performance two weeks later did not inspire confidence.
Parsard’s two other entries were winner Father Patrick, who established an early two-length lead to score without looking likely to be overtaken, and 3/1 runner-up Rojorn Di Pilot (Omar Walker). Ridden by reigning champion apprentice Oshane Nugent for his second winning mount on the day, Father Patrick was bet at 10/1 against. The speedy five-year-old gelding registered his 10th career success from 27 starts.
With a lead of nearly $700,000 in the see-saw battle for the 2021 trainer’s title, Jason DaCosta immediately established a little more daylight with 3/5 favourite Tomohawk winning the 1400-metre opening event and 2021 champion jockey-designate Anthony Thomas at the reins. There was much more to come from DaCosta!
Run over 1600 metres, the second event which supported the feature was another renewal – the Andrew H.B. Aguilar Memorial Trophy. Formerly, this was a very important trial for the traditional, main Boxing Day drawing card – the Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes, the seasonal juvenile finale. The secondary attraction event staged annually in memory of Mr Aguilar, a former Jockey Club president, was won by Rainsville (3/5) for trainer Richard Azan and was the first of Nugent’s riding double.
The short, 700-metre sprint of the third event ended with veteran rider Oneil Mullings persuading the Ryan Darby-trained 2/1 favourite Parajet to outsprint rivals by three parts of a length. Similarly, on the fourth of the day, apprentice Jordan Barrett had little trouble with all-the-way winner Rain Drops over 800 metres straight for trainer Junior Small’s seventh training success from 66 starts this year.
Conversely, Phillip Parchment had to work overtime in the fifth for the first of two wins on the card. Locked in a war of attrition with chief rival Clara’s Vision, the 27/1 Zion, trained by Marlon Anderson, led and was headed by the filly 200 metres from the finish of the 1500-metre gallop but, under the typical hard driving of Parchment, the colt re-established the advantage and edged away to secure victory close to home by nearly one length.
Nunes pulled one back with Hecandance (Shane Ellis) winning the sixth over 1600 metres at 2/1 while trainer Anthony Smith took his fourth win of the season in the 1000-metre straight seventh with Money Marshall (3/5), taking apprentice Matthew Bennett to the winners’ enclosure for a 20th riding triumph from 195 opportunities this year.
Out-of-class Billy Whizz (1/5), ridden by Dick Cardenas, duly obliged in the ninth run at 1400 metres for DaCosta’s second while the title-chasing horseman also added a third in the 1500-metre nightcap with Parchment who confirmed his riding double aboard progressive, US-bred I Am Fred (2/1) – thus leaving the Nunes camp and supporters facing a deficit of approximately $1.4 million with the colt’s convincing four-and-quarter length-triumph.
The Training Feat Award is presented to Ian Parsard for the Best Winning Gallop of Father Patrick, with Parchment securing the Jockeyship Award for what was generally thought to be an unlikely victory aboard Zion but which was made possible by his athletic ability, balance and a timely switch of the whip from right to left hand to induce his mount’s vital late surge needed for ascendancy when it mattered.
