Classy Prospect nabs Pick3 feature
Not the best away, Classy Prospect recovered in a flash along the rails to settle second before assuming the lead.
However, after taking a short respite, Flintstone motored into the lead. But with just over 600 metres remaining, jockey Shane Ellis pushed Classy Prospect back in front before galloping to victory in the $3.6 million SVL Pick3 Super Challenge Trophy Grade 111 feature race at Caymanas Park yesterday.
Trained by champion and leading trainer Wayne DaCosta, who last won this leg two years ago with The Real Stream, Classy Prospect was running for only the second time but installed the 8-5 favourite and ran 1,400 metres in 1:26.2 to capture the second leg of the 5th annual Supreme Ventures Two-Year-Old Series by 1 1/2 lengths. It was his second win from two starts.
Colonel Wales, a 6-1 bet ridden by Trevor Simpson, turned up the lane last, but came with a tremendous stretch run to be closest to the winner in the 11-horse field of native-bred juveniles to cause some anxious moments.
First leg winner Al Fouzia, ridden by Devon A Thomas in place of Paul Francis, who fell two races earlier aboard the imported three-year-old bay filly Proud Again, finished third, with Excellence, the stablemate of the winner, completing the frame as a 6-1 chance, partnered by Hubert Bartley.
DaCosta welcome the victory, but thought his charge showed signs of a struggle nearing the end of the race.
“Leaving the half-mile he was going right through, but at the top of the straight I was not sure whether he was idling or coming back. I’m not sure in the final 200 metres as Colonel Wales was definitely gaining rapidly on him, but let’s see how it develops from here on,” he said.
Ellis was more confident in the ability of Classy Prospect than DaCosta by saying that Classy Prospect was not coming back in the straight.
Ellis, asked whether Classy Prospect was coming back at the end of his race replied with an emphatic “No, he was not coming back I was just easing down”.
“He is green so there is no good in forcing an issue when the job has already been accomplished.”
Classy Prospect is a dark bay colt by Saint Appeal out of Good Prospect (Texas Prospector) and bred and owned by Francis Barnett, Edison Chai and Louis Lyn.
This was his second win from two career starts and he earned $1,695,600 as the winner’s share for an icreased bankroll of $2,359,100.