RACE ONE – A made-in-heaven event for 1-5 favourite Smarty Tradition, jockey Roger Hewitt and trainer Errol ‘Little Sub’ Subratie. Win number 15 for Hewitt, who is having his best season to date.
RACE TWO – On a sunny day, first-timer, the four-year-old grey filly Snowflakes by American Dance out of Miss Pasion (half-sister to Rupunzel), fought like a seasoned campaigner to register a win on debut. Chris Mamdeen was at his hustling best on Snowflakes trained by Colin Ferguson.
RACE THREE – Diosa De Oro (11-1) with Ramon Nepare in the saddle fought as she has never done before to hold a stiff challenge from Doctor Grey (Javaniel Patterson). For the eight-year-old bay mare, it was her 10th win from 73 career starts. Lightweight apprentice Nepare, with some ability, has not been getting the rides, as in 2022, he has ridden only 67 times for three wins.
RACE FOUR – Here we saw trainer Patrick Lynch linking with the jockey (Dane Dawkins), who beat his Blue Vinyl in the Jamaica Derby a day before on Atromica. The two linked to provide Executive Chief with a facile win. Interestingly, Executive Chief is owned by M N M Racing Stables, the owners of Blue Vinyl.
RACE FIVE – These days there seems to be no stopping, Dane Dawkins. He has evolved into a winning machine, as after piloting Executive Chief to victory in the fourth, Dawkins quickly closed his double on the day aboard the Gary Subratie-trained Traditional Boy. With those two wins, Dawkins’ tally is now 59 for the year, making it quite possible, if he continues in the same vein, to join the elite club of jockeys with over 100 wins in a single racing year.
RACE SIX – This one ended in a bang-up finish with Versatile Vision (Tevin Foster) just able to thwart the on-rushing High Diplomacy (Phillip Parchment). The winning margins were as close as possible, a short head by a short head.
RACE SEVEN – Now and then six-time champion jockey Omar Walker reminds racing fans that he is still one of the best around. His ride on the Jason DaCosta-trained Pretty Girl came from the top drawer, the very top. This was the second victory for Pretty Girl from four career starts.
RACE EIGHT – Of late, the trend has developed whereby the maiden three-year-olds from the barn of champion trainer Anthony Nunes have been releasing their maiden tags with frequency. The eighth event was the turn of Wowtastic, a half-brother to Wow Wow, to go home a winner. Wowtastic (Reyan Lewis) dominated throughout, defeating her nearest rival Traditional Lady by 7 ½ lengths. Expect this Nunes trend to continue, with the likes of El Cid, Noa Li, Jungle Boogie, and possibly Manaco lining up.
RACE NINE – The Jamaica Oaks won convincingly by Our Angel. This race will be the subject of a separate article.
