KINGSTON, Jamaica - Veteran reinsman Paul Francis, on a mount who had not indicated in eight previous races including an only victory over 800 metres straight, was confident this filly would get 1500 metres. Trained by Lawrence Freemantle and bet at odds of 7/2, Anngelos was held behind the early pacemaker by Francis and she proceeded to outstay her rivals convincingly, handing a five-length defeat to the next runner to finish.
In the day’s 1100-metre second, with the Barrington Dawes owned and trained maiden five-year-old Little Red, being the most frequent starter, which is a clear indication of soundness, gave Samantha Fletcher an easy winning ride for her ninth success of the season. Emerging from a dispute for the lead at the top of the stretch, Little Red, an aptly named diminutive chestnut mare, was 5 ½ lengths clear of her nearest rival to justify 4/5 favouritism with comfort.
April Spirit (Jordan Barrett) from the camp of second-generation trainer Wayne Parchment started and won at odds of 9/5, the shortest price in her 53-race career yielding only the second win. Always prominent the six-year-old mare left no doubt as to who was best on the day with a comfortable win margin approaching three lengths in the 1100-metre sprint for the third race.
Half an hour later, somewhat surprisingly 4/5 favourite Mr Ambassador (Phillip Parchment) was narrowly outsprinted by normally fractious 4/1 chance Stanislaus. Strongly ridden by Robert Halledeen, Stanislaus, a seven-year-old gelding, scored by three parts of a length in the afternoon’s fourth event contested over the 1000-metre straight course.
The much-anticipated debut of the Jason Dacosta-trained and interestingly named Unruly Boss was sent off the even-money favourite and he did not disappoint the rail birds. Ridden by joint champion and season leader Anthony Thomas, the useful-looking three-year-old colt did absolutely nothing wrong and won by nearly five lengths.
The time of 59.3 seconds returned by Unruly Boss for the fifth race 1000-metre straight gallop although it was a race confined to age-group maidens, is not to be dismissed as less than promising. The likelihood is that this colt will be running faster against better in future races.
Big Dream (Daniel Thompson), trained by Colin Ferguson, racing over 1200 metres at odds of 23/1 against him, gave a concern free two-length win margin to the connections in the sixth of the nine races on the card. This was an extremely satisfying reward for the backers who were unconvinced the strapping six-year-old bay horse could only be effective running on the straight course.
When Jerome Innis won the seventh event aboard the Michael Marlowe-trained filly Wright In Flight who found it hard to fathom how such a competent and lightly weighted rider was on only his third winner from 82 rides this season, but such is the vagaries of his profession. Starting at odds of 7/2, the light-framed filly came home just over a length to the good over 25/1 shot Infinity Ace (Tevin Foster) at the end of the 1600-metre run.
Race eight over 1600 metres resulted in a comfortable victory at 5/2 for the well-handicapped filly Labycka ridden by apprentice Jordan Barrett for trainer Steven Todd. Labycka was the second winner on the day for Barrett.
Then as expected, the five-year-old US-bred mare Victory Turn ridden by Javaniel Patterson and conditioned by Gary Crawford, displayed her well-chronicled reputation for speed which was good enough for a near three-length win margin. Starting as 4/5 favourite in the 1000-metre round nightcap it was the fifth win in only 14 career starts.
The Training Feat Award is presented to Colin Ferguson for preparing Big Dream to win over a distance never thought possible in her 27-race career and for this, the Best Winning Gallop accolade is also well justified for the horse. Apprentice Daniel Thompson gets his first Jockeyship Award for keeping Big Dream well balanced throughout.
