RACE DAY VERDICT (11-05-2019) - Spare a thought for jockey Phillip Parchment, as ‘prentos’ continue to dominate

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jockey Phillip Parchment has been paying his dues ay Caymanas Park for a while now.
The 38-year-old Parchment has scraped around, diligently working horses in the mornings without getting many winning rides on race days.
Parchment over the last two to three years has forged an association with champion trainer Wayne DaCosta and is now reaping some notable successes for his hard work and dedication.
Essentially, Parchment is the number two in the DaCosta barn behind six-time champion Omar Walker, still yet, he has continued to do his duties without a fuss.
The biggest payoff for the obviously determined Parchment came last week when he rode Princess Annie to Classic success in the 10-furlong Jamaica Oaks.
In that victory, Parchment demonstrated his skills by diligently waiting and timing his final effort on Princess Annie to the last stride.
One race day after (May 11) and Parchment is more than earning his stripes landing two more winners, Eddie’s Princess for owner Carlton Watson also the owner of Princess Annie for trainer Johnny Wilmot and Uncle Frank for DaCosta.
The engagement on Uncle Frank was particularly noteworthy as Parchment in signature mode took Uncle Frank from off the pace before coming forward on the inside rails for a fine win while the others Bruce Wayne, Saratoga Sight and My Elle Belle were busy bumping and boring each other.
All we can say at this stage is well done, Mr Parchment and long may it continue.
 
CHRISTOPHER MAMDEEN AND REYAN LEWIS
The race meeting of Saturday, May 11 saw 13 races being competed for. Seven of those races were won by claiming apprentices with leading rider Christopher Mamdeen and the equalled talented Reyan Lewis responsible for six, three apiece, of those seven were ridden by the apprentices. The other winning apprentice was Raddesh Roman.
One really has to wonder about the future of the other jockeys, as another set of apprentices are about to be to come aboard in September.
Most of the trainers prefer to use apprentices with claims rather the regular riders as claiming weight adds to the handicap advantage of their horses.
Come September we are going to have at least 30 apprentices with claiming tags. The room is going to full and with our limited amount of race days, the hunt for winning rides is going to be well and truly on.
Let’s wait and see.
APPRENTICES (29-09-2018 – 11-05-2019)
Position      Apprentices                            Wins
1                 Christopher Mamdeen           51
2                 Reyan Lewis                            39
3                 Tevin Foster                            29
4                 Kiaman McGregor                  17
5                 Daniel Satchell                       12
6                 Raddesh Roman                     11
7                 Daniel Thompson                   4
8                 Romario Smith                       4
9                 Samantha Fletcher                 4
10               Shavon Townsend                  3
11               Roger Hewitt                          3
12               Matthew Bennett                   2
13               Shane Richardson                  2
14               Carlos Blake                            1
15               Romario Spencer                   1
16               Anthony Allen                        1
17               Jordan Barrett                         1
18               Abigail Able                            0
19               Tamicka Lawrence                  0
20               Gordon Gregory                     0
21               Jawani Forbes                         0