‘Showing Up’ did show up for the Clico Day of Races at the Kennard Memorial Turf Club on Sunday, but ‘Jumbo Joy’ as he always did, displayed his strong sprinting prowess to win by 10 lengths in the three years open race that went a distance of one mile, the first of two feature races of the day from Showing Up.
Jockey Colin Ross is known for riding the underdogs in these races as was the case last year when he rode ‘Showing Up’ to an upset win over ‘Little Pannie’ and ‘Perfect Drift’ in the feature race of the El Dorado champions at the same venue.
This time around, he saddled ‘Jumbo Joy’ to a 10 horse length victory after ‘Showing Up’ tried to make a race out of it in the three-horse event when he took the lead as they approached the first turn in a race of stamina and speed.
But according to his well known tactic, ‘Jumbo Joy’ started to make his move at the half way point, and by the time he took the turn for home it was clear to all and sundry that he was the winner of the $300,000 first prize, leaving ‘Showing Up’ and ‘Choice Return’ to settle for $150,000 and $75,000, the second and third place prizes respectively.
In the other feature for C and Lower Class horses, eventual champion jockey Kumar Singh rode his steed ‘Great Memories’ to a memorable win in a seven horse event which saw ‘Getting Something’ ridden by Daniel Floris surging to the front from the start and fading to second. Great Memories also pocketed $300,000.
Singh positioned his charge well in the front pack, and as they approached the three furlong pole, made his way to the front where he stayed until they passed the pole. ‘Getting Something’ took second whilst ‘Spin and Squeeze’ had to do much squeezing and less spinning to occupy the third position.
Results from other races on the day’s eight-card event saw apprentice jockey 15-year-old Krishna Singh saddling ‘Baby Boy’ to a resounding victory in the first race of the day over ‘Brown Boy’, race favorite ‘Perfect Drift’ and ‘Sir Balaji’ in that order in the G and Lower Class race.
Mahendra Sukhu also had his time in the winners’ circle when he was aboard ‘Channel Boy’ who outran ‘Wonderlite’ and ‘Cash Run’, while Ross rode ‘Coconut Boy’ to another convincing win in what could have been called the race of the day.
After seeing the two American-bred horses in ‘Artax #2’ and ‘He’s Wheely Wheel’ not being given the permission to compete due to legal problems, Ross guided ‘Coconut Boy’ from start to finish and an eventual three lengths victory over ‘Star Streak’ who had to stave off ‘Pleasure Star’ for the runner-up position.
‘Laura Lee in Flight’ was the perfect foil for her stable mate ‘Sir Balaji’ when she went to front under the orders of her jockey, who was none other than Ross and set the pace. As is customary, ‘Sir Balaji’ under the whip of Floris worked his way through the back and held onto the rail as they approached the turn for home where he shot into the lead and gained an eventual two and a half lengths victory over ‘Baby Boy’ and ‘Perfect Drift’. The day was not without its controversies as not only were the owners of ‘Artax #2’ and ‘He’s Wheely Wheel’ angry for their non-participation, but the owner of ‘Brown Boy’ was involved in an argument over the finish in the final event.
Apparently being tired from his earlier runs, ‘Brown Boy’ ridden by Sukhu led from start to just about 25 metres from the pole where he was passed by ‘Blondie’ who had the weight of jockey Desmond to carry, to win by a whisker. Much controversy surrounded this decision, but in the end “all is well that ends well” and ‘Blondie’ was adjudged the winner in the final race of an action-packed day that was sponsored by insurance giants Clico to the tune of $3.5M.
Kumar Singh won the champion jockey award while T. Dhari and Customs racing stable won the champion trainer and stable awards respectively.
