Blondie Blondie upstages in Ziadie Mem
BLONDIE Blondie, a 5-1 bet who went through leaving the 800 metres pole, rallied determinedly in the final 50 metres to hold off the fast-finishing 11-1 chance Rule By Secrecy to win the $528,000 Tewfic Ziadie Memorial Cup claiming feature by a short head at Caymanas Park yesterday.
Ridden by Andre Martin, Blondie Blondie ran 1,820m in 1:58.0 seconds, but it was only the dexterity of Martin who outrode Paul Francis aboard Rule By Secrecy back to the line which gained for him the narrow win in the 10-horse field for the claiming group $450,000 – $400,000 three-year-olds and upward.
A field of 11 was declared to run, but Lucky Eddie, one of the early favourites in the event, was declared a late none-runner.
A pleased owner/trainer Dennis Price said he was “always confident of victory going into the race. We wanted to get a race like this and when it came, we didn’t plan to lose it. So confident we were we wore blue to recognise Peace Day”, he added.
El Diablo, the mount of Larris Allen, ran on to finish third 3 1/4 lengths away, with the 4-5 favourite Il Caimano, who tracked the leader at a safe distance second until turning for home, closed the frame partnered by Devon A Thomas.
Blondie Blondie, a five-year-old bay mare by Maverick out of Zanamore (Studdish), was bred by Carl Anderson and was winning for the fourth time from 35 career starts. She earned $288,300 as the winner’s share for earnings of $1,592,100 lifetime.
Meanwhile, Brother To Brother, Mr Fabulous and Mark My Word shared the three maiden races for native-bred three-year-olds.