KINGSTON, Jamaica - Kingsman enters his four-year-old career as a growing and dependable racer after leaving non-winners of three with a much-improved performance.
This performance came after winning the 2020 New Year’s Day Trophy feature at Caymanas Park.
Racing over six-and-a-half furlongs (1,300 metres), Kingsman, a bay gelded offspring of Discreetly Mine - Feasibility Study, was tactically ridden from the off by the improving 2.0 kg claiming apprentice, Kiaman McGregor to land the gambit. It was the second win for the gelding at the distance and he wrapped up the event with an authoritative showing, winning by 6 ½ lengths in a field of 12 runners as the 2/1 betting favourite.
Latapy, the 4/1 shot ridden by Omar Walker for champion trainer Anthony Nunes finished second, with the well-supported, imported dark bay brown filly, My Switcharoo, trained by Gary Subratie at odds of 7/2 and ridden by champion jockey Christopher Mamdeen, third.
Trained by Ian Parsard and owned by the PJK Team, Kingsman brought a lot of joy to his connections.
“Kingsman is a good and dependable racer. We’ve had some difficulties finding what gets him to perform on race days and today it was an excellent and noteworthy performance. How confident, I was entering the race? I was extremely confident.
“About eight weeks ago, he had a terrible accident on the exercise track. When he [Kingsman] was cantering down the straight, a horse was coming to the winning post and knocked him and his rider flat on the ground. The impact from the fall left him a bit concussed as Kingsman did not move for over a minute.
“We had to take our time with him since his last race on November 2 and the accident which was about a week later, to get him back together.
“On returning to the track, he did work last week, which was an eye-opening gallop.
“Kingsman went under 1:06.0 for five-and-a-half furlongs. That work said he was ready to go and we decided to take a chance with him today and he performed well. I am delighted,” said Parsard
Where do we go from here?
“Kingsman is now at the non-winners of four level, so the hope is that he comes out of the race well, and we will take it from there. One step at a time,” Parsard added.
