Pick Lottery Ticket for Easter Sprint Cup
Speed and a tad more speed will slice through the Easter Monday Holiday 10-race card at Caymanas Park today topped by the Easter Sprint Cup.
A three-year-old and upward Overnight Allowance feature event, the East Sprint Trophy, will bring the Easter holiday racing programme to a close by approximately 5:40 pm with running of the event going 1,100 metres for a purse of $1,000,000. Earlier an in-form group of native-bred four-year-old and upward maidens will make the clarion call in a special weight contest going 1,400 metres to open the card at 12:30 pm for the major share of a $600,000 purse.
The card is competitive throughout its entire fabric, but none more so than the Easter Sprint Cup feature with its fairly high percentage of versatile speed merchants. Open Allowance campaigner Talented Tony K took a step down in grade on last but failed to justify his superiority in class by being beaten by Simply The Best.
That was over 1,000 metres. Today they will go 100 metres farther, and with the distance increased so will be his chances of improving on his last performance, with trainer Patrick Lynch calling for the stronger handling of Dane Nelson. But even with Nelson replacing Shane Ellis in the tack, Talented Tony K seems to have an enormously difficult task of dislodging this potent field of in-form rivals.
Nelson makes manifest difference on a horse that is well tuned for a good fight, but even so, this is a fit field of horses that includes nemeses from his last race such as the sly Polly B and Dragline — who even though picking up some 11.5kg, still remains no pushover — Cartel, Sarah Lee, Papa Albert, Twilight Dream and Lottery Ticket. These runners are just hungry for victory and could prove obdurate.
With these, therefore, expected to be at full throttle, Nelson should have his hands full, keeping the talented one buoyant to withstand the rush of horse flesh in the dying embers at the finish.
Significantly, trainer Phillip Elliott has now fitted Papa Albert with the visor after breaking slowly in the race won by Dragline on last. He has also changed riders going for the apprentice Odeen Edwards in preference to jockey Paul Francis.
Another of the major nemeses of all and sundry is Lottery Ticket, who has been promising so much but delivering so little for some time now. Probably a drop in class is what the doctor should order as in eight starts — four last season and this season another four — saw the five-year-old bay mare out of the money only once, and that was the Diamond Mile.
However, after that fantastic ride from Omar Walker aboard Uncle Vinnie on Saturday, it could probably be a wise choice from trainer Wayne DaCosta for Walker as a repeat of the heroics on Saturday could just produce the desired result.
Ones To Watch
Race 1 Mark Of The Prince,
Shade Of Beauty, Cheers
Race 2 Sunshine Cat,
Seriousmanipulator, Movie Star
Race 3 Newton’s First Law,
Boffo, Leekout
Race 4 Formal Gladiator, Apollo
Bay, Tradition
Race 5 Stan Roy, Cody’s
Dream, Chief Secretariat
Race 6 Reigning King, Daddy’s
Dilema, Ricky Ricardo
Race 7 Princess Caula, My
Angel Briannah, Urban Principal
Race 8 Smokescreen,
Ninelifecat, Cat’s Rigger
Race 9 Harry’s Train, Storm
Born, Yaya’s Dream
Race 10 Lottery Ticket,
Dragline, Talented Tony K