Golden Destiny sprints to victory
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Five-year-old bay gelding Golden Destiny (Adore The Gold – Erica’s Destiny), in a show of his likeness for the shorter distance races, made one move to win a Restricted Allowance 11 event over four furlongs (800m) straight.
Trained by Ryan Darby and ridden by apprentice Oshane Nugent, Golden Destiny got a flying start from the number two draw even while tacking across to the more favourable outside rails.
Golden Destiny held the early lead ahead of Miss Elaine (Dane Nelson), Lightning McQueen (Orlando Foster), Chief of State (Anthony Thomas) and Nuclear Dan Dada (Daniel Satchell).
With every stride, Golden Destiny opened up on rivals coming across the dummy rails but began to shorten inside the final furlong (200m); but he was too far in front to be pegged back and came home by three parts of a length in a time of 46.4 for the distance.
Lightning McQueen ran on well for second place with Miss Elaine third.
Mr Pantheon completes Ryan Darby double
APRENTICE Tevin Foster brought the Ryan Darby-conditioned Mr Pantheon with a surging effort on the outside of runners in deep stretch, and the six-year-old dark brown gelding got up in the nick of time to nip Radical on the wire. Mr Pantheon was victorious in an Optional Claiming ($450,000-$400,000) event.
Going 6 ½ furlongs (1,300m), Mr Pantheon (Storm Craft – Senorita Sinki) got home by half a length in a time of 1:21.0. It was his seventh career win from 33 starts.
Though blessed with speed, Mr Pantheon was unable to go with the early leaders and sat in mid-pack as Diosa de Oro (Roger Hewitt), Radical (Omar Walker) and Yetagain showed the way. Navigating the half mile turn, Radical kicked on and opened up coming into the lane, looking all over the winner leaving the furlong-and-a-half pole (300m).
Foster started to work overtime on Mr Pantheon who responded well and got up in time for the win over Radical. Yetagain finished in third place. It was the second winner for Darby on the day as he earlier saddled Golden Destiny in the second race.
No problems for Lady Carmen
AFTER finishing in third place by a length to Sure Cote and Princess Statistic in a $250,000-$200,000 claiming call, Lady Carmen, owned and trained by Steven Todd and ridden by Anthony Thomas, obliged as the 1-2 favourite in an Optional Claimer ($180,000-$150,000) run over six furlongs (1,200m).
Lady Carmen did not lead as Thomas allowed the seven-year-old bay mare to sit behind rivals before making a run in the stretch drive. Lady Carmen turned for home behind Cat’s Rigger (Jerome Innis) but went by with a furlong (300m) to go and held on to win by a length in a time of 1:16.1.
Stan Roy, ridden by Dane Nelson, rallied in the lane to finish in second place with Cat’s Rigger fading into third.
Chinamax, Tensang Chung off the mark
AMERICAN-BRED four-year-old chestnut colt Chinamax, after 21 starts, finally found the winners’ enclosure on local soil when he romped home in a Restricted Allowance event over nine furlongs and 25 yards (1,820m). It was also the first winner for the season for trainer Tensang Chung.
Chinamax was unable to go with the early leaders and had to sit behind the pace as Prince Dominick (Kerry-Gayl Robinson) led the way ahead of Adwa (Dick Cardenas) and Case Closed (Christopher Mamdeen).
Chinamax continued to gallop off the pace down the backstretch before making a telling move approaching the half mile (800m). Chinamax picked up the lead at the top of the lane and went on to win to score without hindrance.
Case Closed ran well for second, while Casual Peach, under Shane Ellis, finished in third place. The final time was 1:57.0.
Six horses claimed
Six horses were claimed on the 10-race programme.
In the first race, Marvin Campbell claimed Chief Prospect for himself from Gregory Forsyth; Ryan Darby claimed Subbie for owner Rohan Daley from Donovan Plummer; and Andrew McDonald claimed Princess Kavel for owner Richard Whyte from Ryan Darby. All horses from the first race were claimed for $250,000 each.
Tyrone Prince claimed Luana for owner Unruly Connections from Oneil Markland, while Patrick Lynch claimed Yetagain for owner M N M Racing Stables from Anthony Nunes from the third race. Both horses in third race were claimed for $450,000 each.
Rennex Burrell claimed the winner of the fifth race Lady Carmen for himself for $180,000 from Steven Todd.
