KINGSTON, Jamaica - Having finally decided to put Yellowstone to task at exercise, trainer Alford Brown is hoping that his four-year-old chestnut gelding will head to the Overnight Allowance class with his shin problems behind him.
Brown’s surge of optimism came shortly after Yellowstone’s comfortable 1 ½ length-win in a four-year-old-and-upwards Restricted Allowance non-winner of four call and an imported non-winners of three at Caymanas Park on January 15, 2023.
The performance, he believes, demonstrated that the Gregory Stewart and Hylton Hamilton-owned horse has recovered from the issues which have sidelined Yellowstone for two-plus months. Yellowstone (Sensational Slam – Awry) topped the 5-1/2 furlongs (1,100m) contest in 1:07.3 behind splits of 23.2 and 46.3 seconds.
“I’m very excited about this performance. He has been out of racing since October because I had an issue with his shin, so I gave him the break to correct those issues and as you can see it worked out well,” Brown said in his post- race interview.
“So it’s so far so good. It’s a slow track and clocking 1:07 on a slow track is acceptable, and he has shown me that he wants to relax and then go forward, which is good, so we just hope for the best going forward,” he added.
Since making his debut in April last year, Yellowstone has been a prominent contender for the most part, as he has only failed to hit the board twice in his now 10-race career. He has recorded four wins and two second-place finishes.
Yellowstone won his last outing over 5-1/2 furlongs in October by a nose, which was when Brown realised there was an issue to be addressed.
Yellowstone’s first time back on track since then was a December 31 two-furlong gallop in which he clocked 24.2 seconds. That may have inspired the confidence his connections sought, as he hardly missed a beat at exercise prior to Sunday’s race.
Given the respite, coupled with the fact that he was well-prepared for his seasonal bow, Yellowstone was always expected to bring pace and fresh legs into play to prove competitive against rivals easily in the penultimate event on the nine-race programme. And he duly obliged.
With leading rider Tevin Foster in the saddle, Yellowstone at odds of 4-1, broke well and was up with the front runners Luksol (Robert Halledeen), Talona (Youville Pinnock), and Thalos (Roger Hewitt), as they went into the half-mile turn.
From there, a relaxed-looking Foster kept Yellowstone reserved even as Thalos made a big move on the outside.
When they arrived in the homestretch, Foster, with a few reminders from the right-hand stick, sent Yellowstone about his business and he opened up at the furlong pole, leaving the others to battle for the minor shares.
Favourite Champion Bubbler (Reyan Lewis), who was slow out of the gates, ran on for second ahead of Thalos and KP Choice (Odeen Edwards).
A delighted Brown pointed to patience and rest in Yellowstone’s stellar performance. It was the trainer’s first win from three starts this year and his first in some time.
“I believe the fact that he got the break did him well, and we were pretty confident because he has been working well since the start of the year,” a hoarse-sounding Brown noted.
“He is now eligible for Overnight Allowance where he is going to run against tougher horses, so we will see how he goes from here. But we want to remain patient with him and give him time to recover because as you know, it’s a different class there, so he has to catch the pace there,” he ended.
