LIGHT MY FIRE (right), with Robert Reid aboard, is driven out to win the seventh race for the Portmore Community Trophy over 1100 metres at the expense of highly fancied Blue Marlin with rider Richie Mitchell at Caymanas Park on Saturday. Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

Orville Clarke, Freelance Writer

The Pick-9 was caught for the third consecutive raceday at Caymanas Park on Saturday, hardly good news for the promoters who every time it is caught have to put up the guaranteed minimum of $1 million.

This is designed to encourage sales, but the gamble by Caymanas Track Limited (CTL) can backfire if the Pick-9 is caught week after week. The upside for the promoters is when the Pick-9 elude punters for weeks and sales grow to enormous proportions. Whenever his happens, they smile all the way to the bank.

Although the fancied horses held their own at the Park on Saturday, the Pick-9 was caught by only two punters, each receiving $500,000.

Winning Pick-9 favourites were UCANDOIT at 3-5 in the second race, HAFIFA at 6-5 in the fifth, RUN ALDEENO at evens in the eighth and ABOUNDING GRACE at 8-5 in the closing race for the Roderick 'Pilot' Francis Memorial Trophy.

Other popular winners not starting favourites were WITH HONOUR at 8-5 in the third, LIGHT MY FIRE at 2-1 in the seventh race for the Portmore Community Trophy and MUSICAL MAESTRO at 9-5 in the ninth for overnight allowance horses.

The two remaining Pick-9 winners - JACK BE GOOD at 7-2 in the fourth and WHITE DIAMOND at 5-1 in the sixth - were by no means difficult to spot, if only for the fact that both were ridden by five-time champion jockey Trevor Simpson, who had a third winner on the card as well.

In the first of the Pick-9 races, the howling favourite SPLASHIN RIVER (sick) was declared a late non-starters at the start, enabling the highly fancied UCANDOIT to assume the market leader position. Under a good ride from veteran jockey David 'Scorcher' McKenzie, who has been riding since the mid-60s, UCANDOIT came through early in the straight to win very easily.

Spot test

In the second race won by WITH HONOUR, the howling favourite FOURFORTYTRAIN ran no race at all (tailed off) to finish last but one. This was much concern to owner/trainer Harry Parsard who told me after the race that the vet on duty ordered a spot test to be taken on 3-y-o gelding to determine what went wrong.

Five-time champion jockey Trevor Simpson was in his element on Saturday, booting home three winners on the card to move up the standings. Simpson looked the 'Slicer' of old aboard JACK BE GOOD when giving in-form jockey Richie Mitchell the bulbshot of his life aboard the front running favourite TOOT DI HOOT in the fourth race for overnight allowance horses. Simpson has awakened from his slumber and must be a dangerous jockey in the championship race even though still 12 behind the leader Javour Simpson.