KINGSTON, Jamaica - Two races after Voytek romped The Royal Lancaster Trophy for colts and geldings, Suasion, stepped forward to wrest the Sunny Side Stakes for two-year-old maiden fillies. Both races were run over five furlongs round (1,000 metres) on Saturday (December 21) at Caymanas Park.
While Voytek (49.0 kg) lead home the colts and geldings by of five lengths, Suasion carrying 3.0 kg more than Voytek returned a much faster time. Voytek clocked 1:00.4 while Suasion was three-fifths of a second faster with a recorded time of 1:00.1.
Suasion, ridden by outgoing champion jockey Anthony Thomas, was having her second start over a distance considered short of her best but she turned in a smart performance which pleased both trainer Steven Todd and owner Garth Samuels.
“I bought this horse with the aim for her to run in the Classics.
“If she is not as good as we think, she should be able to run in the filly’s side of things like the 1000 Guineas and other such races.
“At a minimum, the hope is that Suasion is going to be competitive in the various classes.
“As far as today’s (Saturday) victory is concerned, I am quite pleased.
“I do not see her as a sprinter and the way she finished the race is encouraging. Suasion is telling me that she can go a little further and that is good. So let’s wait and see,” Samuels outlined.
Trainer Todd then gave his thoughts.
“It was a pleasing run. We expected Suasion to be coming from off the pace. It was a five-round and it was clear that she wanted a little more ground. Based on the class, we thought that she would not have been able to catch them in a five-round dash and if she has any ability, she needed to couple up fast enough to catch them and that she did,” Todd shared.
