Review of raceday, Wednesday November 29, 2012

RECENT racedays have been highlighted by the two-year-olds who are capturing attention by the weight of their performances.

Perfect Neighbour’s devastating finish last Saturday has tongues wagging and leaving race-goers wanting for more, which will come on Boxing Day when the Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes is set for competition.

Last Wednesday, we noticed the auspicious debut of Piscean Rocket, a bay colt by Traditional-Starry Eyes trained by Richard Azan.

Ridden by Dick Cardenas, Piscean Rocket was kept off the pace until reaching the last two furlongs of the five furlong round event to win by an ever-expanding five lengths, with the oddly named Devil’s Child second and On Song third.

While a single run can never be a true determining factor in assessing the racing qualities of a racehorse, turfites often look towards the performances of the juveniles to discuss which one will become the next Eros, the next The Viceroy, the next Mark My Word.

The debut run by Piscean Rocket falls in this discussion category, so let’s see how his racing career will unfold.

The trend of riders not being formally attached to a particular trainer continues, as jockeys are crossing borders and trainers are adapting with this relatively new reality.

Take the case of one of our top trainers, Anthony Nunes. In the last two years or so, Cardenas and Shane Ellis have been associated with Nunes, usually receiving the bulk of Nunes’ winners.

On Wednesday, the Nunes-trained Rocketeer was ridden to victory by Trevor Simpson, a rider not usually seen in the saddle for this trainer. It was a typical hard and unrelenting performance by the former champion jockey, getting home by a short head over Awesome Sensation with champion elect Dane Nelson in the saddle.

It was a terrific duel in the straight as Rocketeer, who led for most of the race, was overtaken by Awesome Sensation before Simpson rallied and got the job done in the end. Really good to see Simpson, forever a fan favourite, riding in such form.

The highest-rated race on the day was also the feature Gladiator Trophy over seven furlongs, an Open Overnight Allowance event. Go Go Yvonne, using the benefit of a light weight (47.5 kgs), went in front and was never headed. There was no major challenge as the Spencer Chung-trained foreigner just kept on going. Reasonable Press was second with Erasmo third.

The race was run in honour of one of the best thoroughbreds to ever grace our racetrack, The Gladiator from the famous Is In Time dam line. Is In Time was also the dam of the hugely talented and respected Eight Thirty.

The Gladiator was one of the very few horses to win in Jamaica, 11 wins from 20 starts, and win in the United States, 13 wins from 33 starts. A truly mighty thoroughbred.