DOWN TO THE WIRE
ALL the nominations are in and its now down to the last two race days of the year, comprising 22 races, to decide the fate of the 2018 trainers’ championship.
The five winners posted by champion trainer Wayne DaCosta on Saturday last made a significant change in the state of affairs as his main rival, Anthony Nunes, went home with one winner.
Coming into Saturday’s 11-race card, title-challenger Nunes led DaCosta by just over $127,000. But after DaCosta saddled his five winners and Nunes his one the table has turned significantly in favour of the champion, who now leads by $1,443,300 based on the latest figures supplied by the promoting company, Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited.
Both trainers are again digging deep into their barns, with several horses being dropped into the claiming ranks in an attempt to rake in muchneeded purse money on the two aforementioned race days.
Boxing Day is sure to provide another intriguing chapter in what has become the mother of all contests.
On Boxing Day, DaCosta has 10 horses down to run while Nunes has 11.
The main area of interest on Boxing Day is the running of the one-mile, Supreme Ventures Limited-sponsored Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes with a whopping purse of $4 million.
Next in line is the new Miracle Man Cup but this nine-furlong and 25-yard event comes with a total offering of just $1.3 million.
If Nunes is to win his first trainers’ tile then he must take the juvenile event — a task which seems almost a surety with top-notch two-year-olds Earn Your Stripes, Universal Boss, Corazon and Supreme Soul in the mix.
The Miracle Man represents a showdown between DaCosta’s filly She’s A Maneater and Nunes’ Bigdaddykool, with the former just getting the nod.
Come what may over Boxing Day and the last race day of the year on Saturday, December 29, the trainers’ championship is going to be the centre of attention for all.