GOLDEN Wattle capped what was a truly remarkable t hird-consecutive trainers’ championship for Anthony Nunes as she stunned rivals in the $4-million Supreme Ventures Limited-sponsored Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes at Caymanas Park yesterday.

The filly, at odds of 11-1, was not expected to factor among her more-fancied male counterparts but with this being the first time at a mile (1,600 metres), the opportunity presented itself for the Lion Tamer-Golden Glory offspring to show her class, and that she did.

Partnered by Tevin Foster for the third time in this her fifth career start, Golden Wattle romped to a two-length victory which saw her becoming the first filly to win this coveted event since Princess Popstar‘s in 2013.

With this breathtaking display, Golden Wattle followed other winners by Nunes in this prestigious event to include Alacrann in 2014, Sotomayor in 2016, and Further and Beyond last year.

An emotional Nunes labelled Golden Wattle‘s win as the sweetest of the lot.

“This one is as sweet as it gets. When you don’t expect to win and it happens, you just have to thank God for it,” Nunes said in his post-race interview.

“We certainly thought she could run in the top four because she is bred to get a distance of ground, but I was worried about her running last week as she is a little difficult to train. But Tevin did an awesome job with her today [yesterday] and I am so happy for the ownership group because a lot of them are new in the business and it is a sweeter victory for them,” he added.

Having impressed in his two starts coming into yesterday’s event, it was expected to be a no contest for the Ian Parsard-conditioned Brinks (Omar Walker) on paper, but things were more competitive when it got off the paper and onto the track.

Golden Wattle, who ran from the number three draw, sat comfortably in fifth position as Deezi (Javaniel Patterson) and Power Ranking (Oshane Nugent) dictated the early fractions, with Perfect Brew (Robert Halledeen) stalking in third.

Brinks soon hooked up with Perfect Brew and the two went in chase of the leaders leaving the half-mile, with Golden Wattle also looking a threat on the inside rails.

By the time they straightened for the stretch run it appeared to be a showdown between Deezi, Brinks and Perfect Brew, the latter going best of the lot.

However, Golden Wattle, running three-wide, joined the party at the furlong pole and before long, swept by all and sundry to hand Nunes another lucrative feature contest on the holiday weekend of racing, the trainer having won with Further and Beyond on Sunday in the Ian Levy Cup, which was another $4-million race. The winning time recorded by Golden Wattle was 1:40.0 with splits of 23.1 x 46.3 x 1:12.3.

It was also the second win on the card for Nunes as he won the opening event with Generational, ridden by Halledeen, who continued his fine form with a four-timer to make it seven wins across the two race days.

Halledeen’s other winners were Beautiful Bran in the second for Dale Murphy, Will the Conqueror for Robert Pearson in the fifth and Patriarch in the curtain call for Fitzgerald Richards.