By Orville Clarke, Freelance Writer
SATISFIER, ridden by Paul Ramsay for champion trainer Philip Feanny, disposes of long-time leader CRUISING ALTITUDE (Brian Harding) for a fitting victory in the Philip Feanny O.D. Trophy over 1820 metres at Caymanas Park yesterday. - Carlington Wilmot/Freelance Photographer
THE 4-5 favourite SATISFIER scored a fitting victory at Caymanas Park yesterday, landing the circular nine co-feature for the Philip Feanny O.D. Trophy for overnight allowance horses.
The race was run in honour of the reigning champion trainer who saddled SATISFIER for Joseph 'Fudgie' Duany. The popular owner had a second winner in the impressive classic aspirant, the Billy Williams-trained 3-y-o colt MIRACLE MAN who romped the first race over a mile in fast time.
Feanny actually declared two starters in SATISFIER and the 2001 Guineas and St. Leger winner MILLIMETRE with champion jockey Trevor Simpson slated to ride him, but the latter was declared a late non-starter, having gone lame.
SATISFIER, however, made no mistake with jockey Paul Ramsay astride.
The six-year-old bay gelding by The Medic out of the Peacemaker mare Midnight Angel, a full brother to the 2002 'Horse of the Year' I'MSATISFIED, broke well to chase the leader CRUISING ALTITUDE (3-1) from soon after the start. These were followed by UNLEADED (7-1) and the 3-1 second favourite BANJUHAR in the 11-strong
MOVED IN FOR THE KILL
CRUISING ALTITUDE, with Brian Harding aboard, flashed passed the half mile some three lengths clear of SATISFIER who moved in for the kill approaching the final bend.
Challenging strongly on the outside entering the straight, SATISFIER went by CRUISING ALTITUDE after a brief duel, then moved away in the last furlong to beat him by 2 1/4 lengths in the good time of 1:56.2.
UNLEADED, the lesser fancied stable-companion of CRUISING ALTITUDE, kept on well under top weight for third, while BANJUHAR was fourth.
SATISFIER was notching his first win in over a year, but during that time earned big bucks by finishing second to stable-companion and subsequent 'Horse of the Year' DISTINCTLY IRISH in last November's Red Stripe Superstakes over 2000 and a close third to the same horse in the valuable Harry Jackson Memorial Cup over 2400 metres last Boxing Day. Yesterday's win was his 10th lifetime from 59 starts, during which he has amassed stakes of $4.3 million.
Earlier n the afternoon, the open allowance king, COURT CASE (4-5 fav), came through nicely in deep stretch to win the St. Catherine Cup co-feature over 1100 metres, 1 1/2 length ahead of highly fancied ROYAL MALICE who disputed the lead for most of the way with stable-companion CRUCIAL POINT who was a close third in the field of six.
A six-year-old chestnut horse by Al's River Cat out of Word of Light, COURT CASE was ridden as usual by Panamanian jockey Ameth Robles for many-time champion trainer Kenneth Mattis and owner Ivor Patrick.
POWERFUL RIDE FROM SIMPSON
Bang in form BUTCHER MAN (8-5) responded to a powerful ride from 'Slicer' Simpson to catch and beat NAVIGATOR by a head in race No. 2 in the CTL Claiming series ($170,000 and less) over 1500 metres, completing a hat-trick of wins in the process. The 9-y-o gelding is owned by Jeff Gray and trained by Patrick Fong.
Meanwhile, yesterday saw the promoters increasing the guaranteed minimum payout in the popular Pick-9 bet from $500,000 to $1 million.
This was a bold move by CTL to boost the sales of Pick-9 betting which has not kept pace with its sister bet, the Super-6 since the guaranteed minimum of the latter bet was moved from $250,000 to $500,000 early last year. CTL's chairman, William
"We contemplated long and hard to approve the increase and this should help to further boost sales which have been showing significant improvement since the start of the year", he said.
However, there is a downside. Having decided to put $1 million into the pot, the promoters could lose lots of money if the Pick-9 is caught on a regular basis, as sales would be less than the million dollars when the bet starts anew. However, it's a risk worth taking.
The Pick-9 was not caught yesterday. The carryover to Wednesday's meet - $1 million.
