King Arthur rules supreme in Eros Trophy feature
Although trainer Ian Parsard saddled a milestone 200th career winner on the 10-race card, it was the Jason DaCosta-conditioned King Arthur who stole the limelight with an impressive win in the $1.5-m Eros Trophy feature race at Caymanas Park on Saturday.
King Arthur produced a devastating run on the inside rails in deep stretch to beat Calculus by half-length in the three-year-old and upward Open Allowance/Graded Stakes event over seven furlongs (1,400m).
When the starter sent the seven-horse field on their way, Eroy (Javaniel Patterson) led from I’ve Got Magic (Jordan Barrett) and Runaway Ago (Dick Cardenas), who recovered from a slow start, with King Arthur (Anthony Thomas) tracking the pace smoothly in fourth place down the backstretch.
Going into the half-mile (800m), Runaway Algo tried to steal the march on the field, but I’ve Got Magic tested him on the headline as King Arthur rounded horses and looking dangerous approaching the distance.
After a superb battle in deep stretch, King Arthur exploded on the inside rails, took over the lead with half-furlong (100m) to run and held off the late-running Calculus in the end. Money Monster (Jerome Innis) came from nowhere to get third place ahead of favourite Runaway Algo. The final time for the race was 1:24.3.
It was the second winner for leading trainer DaCosta as he saddled Johncrowjeff (Jerome Innis) in the seventh race. Three-time defending champion trainer Anthony Nunes won one race in Rubyistheone (Tevin Foster) in the fourth race.
Meanwhile, Parsard reached his landmark with last year’s 1000 Guineas and Jamaica Oaks heroine She’s A Wonder in the eighth race, an Overnight Allowance contest over seven-and-a-half furlongs (1,500m).
Ridden by Reyan Lewis, She’s A Wonder led from start to finish in a dominating 4s¾ length win in a time of 1:31.1. The Good Witch, the mount of Cardenas, came home for second place ahead of T Brady, ridden by Youville Pinnock.
Racing continues tomorrow with an eight-race programme. The feature is the $1.7-million betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission Trophy for three-year-old and upward Open Allowance runners going five-and-a-half furlongs (1,100m). First post is at 1:00 pm.
— Ruddy Allen