Orville Clarke, Freelance Writer

An elated Andrew Thomas guides 7-1 shot RED LION to an easy victory in the eighth race over the straight five course at Caymanas Park on Saturday, December 8.- Colin Hamilton/Freelance Photographer

THE LIGHTLY weighted GETAWAYBOY has a glorious opportunity of winning today's non-winners of three feature race for the George Headley Jr. Memorial Cup over 1400 metres at Caymanas Park.

His main rivals in the nine-strong field are the free-running filly MISS SLOOKIE, PRINCESS NESSA, EL PEQUENO and RED OCTOBER, who was an easy winner over the distance on November 17.

The Ken Mattis-trained MISS SLOOKIE and PRINCESS NESSA, from the stables of Desmond Shand, represent the speed horses and both are expected to carry the field into the straight. If one of them can open up approaching the distance, then victory could be assured.

Bad habit

The grey MISS SLOOKIE finished a close second to BORN FIGHTER over 1500 metres on October 15 and a reproduction of that performance would be good enough to take home this trophy from the convenient mark of 50kg. My only reservation is that MISS SLOOKIE has a bad habit of missing the break at times and she can ill-afford that luxury in a race as competitive as this.

PRINCESS NESSA, on the other hand, has trained well in prepara-tion for this trophy and coming from a stable with a good strike rate, could really land the gamble with only 47kg and in-form apprentice Javour Simpson in the saddle. She scored easily over 1300 metres in February and should have no problem getting the additional 100 metres of this race.

EL PEQUENO and GETAWAY-BOY are the proven closers in the lineup and I believe that one of them could get up in the nick of time. The Rowan Mathie-trained EL PEQUENO caught the eye with a fast-finishing third to SUMMER PRINCESS over this trip on November 10, clocking a personal time of 1:27.4, which would be good enough to win today.

While I respect the chances of EL PEQUENO (working well), if GETAWAYBOY runs up to his best, it won't be much of a race with only 51kg and competent Devon A. Thomas in the saddle.

Hopeless position

True, the four-year-old colt from the stables of Fitzgerald Richards was heavily backed to win his last three races, but failed to oblige. Still, he ran well in defeat over 1200 metres on September 22, coming from a seemingly hopeless position after missing the break to finish second on the heels of WE WILL SEE, who clocked a decent 1:14.3.

GETAWAYBOY subsequently finished 2 3/4 lengths third to the front-running ROYAL MAJESTY over a mile on October 27 an giving it away at the start when 11 lengths sixth to SUMMER PRINCESS over the distance, is favoured by the conditions and should prove hard to deny at these weights, once coming away cleanly.

Other firm fancies on the nine-race card are the well-forward debutante SMOOTHABILITY to make a winning debut in the third race for two-year-olds, BLUE MARLIN in the fourth, NASATOL in the fifth over 1200 metres for open allowance horses, PRIME MINISTER to tag JET SKIER in the seventh and KERMIT ahead of stable-companion PRODIGAL SON in the nightpan.