Trainer Anthony Nunes (left) and jockey Tevin Foster discussing the victory by Barnaby in the $1.4-million Ian Levy Cup feature on Saturday, April 5, 2025. (Photo: Naphatli Junior)
Barnaby’s impressive performance in Ian Levy Cup raises expectations for 2025 Mouttet Mile showdown
Barnaby’s remarkable win in the $1.4-million Ian Levy Cup feature race on Saturday, April 5 has set the racing world abuzz, as the talented foreigner has now gained entry into the 2025 Mouttet Mile and expectations has raised for an exciting showdown in December.
The four-year-old American-bred bay colt Barnaby came from behind rivals to win the Graded Stakes contest for three-year-olds and upward over 8 ½ furlongs (1,700m) by three parts of a lengths ahead of former two-time Horse of the Year
Atomica and current Horse of the Year Funcaandun. The winning time was a decent 1:43.4 (23.4 x 46.1 x 1:10.4 x 1:37.3).
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As the news of Barnaby’s victory spread, racing enthusiasts and pundits alike began to speculate about his chances in the upcoming Mouttet Mile. With his impressive performance in the Ian Levy Cup, many believe that Barnaby now has the potential to make a strong run for the top prize. This prestigious event — the Mouttet Mile, boasting a purse of US$300,000 — promises to be one of the highlights of the racing calendar, and Barnaby’s win has undoubtedly set tongues wagging.
Trainer Anthony Nunes remains focused on the task at hand, carefully planning Barnaby’s campaign to ensure that his charge peaks at the right time for the Mouttet Mile.
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“I am obviously pleased with the performance because when you win this race, the win and you are in, you get to kind of set your own schedule, knowing that you are already in the Mouttet Mile,” Nunes told the Jamaica Observer’s
The Supreme Racing Guide.
“You are not playing catch up, you are not having to run where you don’t want to run and so it’s really an important race, not the purse money but more that you get to pick your schedule. I am so happy that one of my two starters [Barnaby and Tiz Tok] was able to get the job done,” Nunes further said.
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“What this win does, it allows me to sit down with the owner and discuss and plot out a plan to the Mouttet Mile. It does not mean that I have to run in every race, I can choose races that are suitable to him and suitable in getting him to the Mouttet Mile in December in 100 per cent peak form and health,” Nunes explained.
The win also marked a personal milestone for Nunes, who expressed gratitude for the hard work and dedication that went into preparing Barnaby for this moment.
“We worked on him hard at the starting gates. He has been breaking well but he is not keeping up and we worked with the gate crew as well and they did a phenomenal job with him. They put him in the starting gates late today and Tevin [Foster] came away running, it is the first time since he [Barnaby] has been here that he rolled out of the starting gates that we expected him to,” said Nunes.
As the race unfolded, Nunes’s confidence grew.
“From he left the seven furlongs, I felt really confident because he was four lengths within the lead and he has never been that close since racing in Jamaica,” he shared.
“He has always been tailed off and having to run them down. He was kind of slightly jacked up by my other horse,
Tiz Tok, at the half-mile pole and had to steady, at the three-eighths pole again he had to steady and when at the top of the straight I said to myself, ‘I hope the length of the stretch was enough to get back to Atomica because she is a champion horse’, she one of the best thoroughbreds that ever been bred in Jamaica. So, you are not running down a cheap horse and it took Barnaby the full length of the stretch to get to her and so we are blessed and very thankful,” Nunes said.
As the gates burst open, Barnaby settled into a comfortable rhythm, allowing the likes of Atomica (Omar Walker),
Run Julie Run (Dick Cardenas), Commandant (Raddesh Roman), and Funcaandun (Robert Halledeen) to battle down the deep stretch. However, it was clear that Barnaby was merely biding his time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. And strike he did at the top of the lane, with a devastating turn of speed that left the competition in his wake.
