KINGSTON, Jamaica - Patience, confidence, and consistency paid off for the connections of Positive ID as the five-year-old bay horse picked up his fifth career victory from 32 starts in the top-rated $1.14-million three-year-old and upwards Non-Restricted Overnight Allowance contest on Sunday, February 5, 2023.
Bred by Bern Identity out of Bubble Gal Bubble, Positive ID came from last position in the 9 ½-furlong (1,900m) event to beat his rival by 4 lengths going away in a time of 2:05.1 (26.0 x 51.4 x 1:16.3 x 1:43.0).
Trainer Michael Marlowe said that going two-turns, he was confident that Positive ID would have come out as the winner.
“We knew going this distance with him [Positive ID] that he would outclass the field and win. He likes longer distances like this, but it was a beautiful win for us. We got Trevor “Slicer” Simpson today, and we pretty much had it in the bag. The performance by Positive ID showed us that going forward he is going to be a dangerous horse in long-distance races,” Marlowe said with a smile on his face during the post race interview.
Positive ID was slowly getting into stride at the start of the race, with Simpson giving him a few reminders to catch up, but the bay horse continued to race at the back of the field. The fleet-footed Billy Whizz (Robert Halledeen) dictated terms upfront, with Power (Tevin Foster) and Press Conference (Jerome Innis) chasing going around the clubhouse turn and onto the main track.
The leading pack basically remained the same for most of the way down the backstretch until leaving the five-furlong mark, when Simpson brought the full-of-running Positive ID into contention in fourth place.
Approaching the distance, Positive ID surrounded rivals, hitting the front full of running entering the straight for the drive. Once Positive ID straightened up in deep stretch, the race was over as the far-striding runner powered home easily ahead of Press Conference and Billy Whizz.
