The first renewal of the Bridge 99 FM Trophy was featured on the programme of ten races.
Staged as the eighth and contested by a field of eleven over 1,500 metres in the Overnight Allowance category it had an outcome generating interesting talking points.
The non-performance of 5-2 bet Brinks, a horse who finished in the frame of the 2022 Triple Crown Series, to finish in only tenth place must be of concern to conditioner Peter-John Parsard.
Gary Subratie’s US-bred three-year-old filly Sistren Treasure (6th) was inaccurately handicapped as top weight (57 kilogrammes). Interestingly as well, Rainsville, from the top-ten stable of Richard Azan closing odds exceeded 99/1.
Ridden by Tevin Foster and in front soon after the start, winner I Realise (9-5) conditioned by Alford Brown, controlled the strong and competitive pace to the 400-metre mark to establish a one length advantage approaching the distance.
Attacked in earnest by 15-1 shot Morimoto (Oshane Nugent), Foster’s skill set served him well to repel that challenge and then to last home with a short head to spare over the late-finishing rush of Rainsville (Javaniel Patterson).
The Alford Brown stable had a second success in the closing event with the sudden return to form of 4-1 bet Gracefully Made in the 1,100-metre nightcap.
Winning rider Raddesh Roman, after a slow start to this season, has rapidly become the preferred jockey for a variety of owners and trainers and he delivered another highly skilled execution to get Gracefully Made home by three parts of a length.
The opener went to 7-2 bet High Diplomacy declared by owner/trainer Borris McIntosh. Ridden by three-kilogramme claimer Richard Henry the horse was down in class and well enough off at the weights to be better than six lengths clear at end of the 1200-metre gallop. Five juvenile filles came under orders for the 1000-metre straight third event and there was a promising effort from the Richard Azan schooled debutant Ms Cherry (Dane Dawkins) in winning by over four lengths with champion Dane Dawkins at the reins.
Trained by reigning champion and current leader Jason DaCosta, 3-5 favourite Fault Line (Phillip Parchment) cantered home in the 1600-metre third by nearly ten lengths.
Anthony Dixon saddled Print Quality (2-1) with three-kilogramme claimer Anthony Allen aboard to win race four over 1,100 metres.
In race five, run at 1,100 metres, Javaniel Patterson parterned four-year-old maiden filly Millennium Star (2-1) to victory for owner/trainer Carlton Cunningham.
In race six over the 1,000-metre straight course, leading reinsman Reyan Lewis had his sole success in maiden colt Chez Le-Vee (6-1) elevated to winning form by Spencer Chung in only its second start.
Over a similar distance for race seven, Tensang Chung (no relation to Spencer) saddled 13-1 bet Smartasset to win a competitive sprint with Matthew Bennett executing the riding honours.
Canadian-bred three-year-old colt Atlantic Convoy, owned by SVREL chairman Solomon Sharpe and declared by Patrick Lynch, overcame a slow start to the secondary featured Ron Ron Trophy donated by Michael Bernard in honor of his top handicapper of a decade ago. Incidentally over at Gulfstream Park in Florida the former champion owner was in the winners’ enclosure earlier with a three-year-colt declared by Jamaican migrant Jose Pinchin, who was a top-flight local trainer.
With 2020-21 champion claiming apprentice rider Oshane Nugent, with six wins from 106 rides this season, rekindled one of those moments in his handling of Atlantic Convoy (CAN). On Atlantic Convoy, a well conformed strongly built chestnut, Nugent had the confidence to urge him into a sprint for the early lead. The 6-1 bet winner ran well inside the last 200 metres to defend his advantage gamely over the entire 1,400 metres of the ninth event to score by a length and a quarter.
The Training Feat Award is presented to Alford Brown for presenting in I Realise in winning condition on only its second appearance this season to executing the Best Winning Gallop. Anthony Allen (Print Quality), Javaniel Patterson (Millinium Star), Matthew Bennet (Smartasset), Tevin Foster (I Realise), Oshane Nugent (Atlantic Convoy) and Raddesh Roman (Gracefully Made) were in the conversation but Foster and Nugent had the most degree of difficulty to secure victories and is therefore jointly deserving of the Jockeyship Award.
