CLASSIC winning filly Saint Cecelia repelled the late challenge of the imported Honeyofalady to gain a narrow win the $1.3 million Gold Cup Grade One feature race by a neck at Caymanas Park yesterday.

Also taking the spotlight was 3-5 favourite Saeed who beat the 5-2 chance Grandi Elani by two lengths to win the $715,000 Andrew HB Aguilar Memorial Cup a maiden special weight event for native-bred two-year-olds.

Ridden by Paul Francis and trained by Gary Subratie for the SAS Syndicate, Saeed ran 1,600 metres in 1:42.1 in the field of nine.

Sait Cecelia ridden by Panamanian lightweight jockey Dick Cardenas and installed the 2-1 favourite the filly who won both the Jamaica 1,000 Guineas and the Oaks in the local Classic season used her light impost of 48.5kg to run 1,400 metres in 1:24.3 for her narrow win in the 11-horse field for Graded Stakes three-year-olds and upward.

Trained by Spencer Chung and as was expected Saint Cecelia shot to the front soon after the starter sent them on their way and for a very brief period when Alsafra took over the lead after turning for home the front running filly continued to dictate the fractions of 23.3, 46.2 and 1:11.0 which created enough distance to last home from a fast finishing Honeyofalady, a 7-2 bet ridden by Doushane Gordon and also carrying 48.5kg.

Last year’s winning four-year-old filly Ahwhofah came running on the outside with Shane Ellis astride but 60.5kg proved her undoing against the lighter weighed runners and she had to settle for third another 2 1/2 lengths farther back. Alsafra the reigning Horse-Of-The-Year who carried 49.0kg and Carlton Malcolm nosed ahead after rounding the final bend but could only finished fourth as Cardenas regained the lead shortly afterwards kept the Classic winning filly honest on the inside rails to hold the advantage back to the line as Honeyofalady and Ahwhofah loomed large on her outside.

Trainer Chung was not surprised by the victory. “She is more comfortable when sprinting but we stretched her out over 2,000 metres on last and hoped that her class would have got her the victory. That did not work so we prepared her for this event and with the lightweight and a distance over which she is comfortable we had expected her to win.”

Owned by Stephen A Chung & WP Valentine Chung, Saint Cecelia, a three-year-old chestnut filly is by Burning Marque out of She’s On Wheels (Bates Motel) and bred at Ham Stables Ltd. It was the fifth win from 10 career starts for Saint Cecelia who began her racing career in February and she pocketed $709,800 as the winner’s share for a lifetime bankroll of $5,269,500.