Orville Clarke, Freelance Writer
RAMPAGE (Wesley Henry) winning the Red Stripe Caribbean Sprint over 1200 metres on Red Stripe Superstakes Day at Caymanas Park last Saturday. - Colin Hamilton/Freelance photographer
For the fifth consecutive raceday, the Pick-9 proved elusive at Caymanas Park on Saturday's big 'Superday' programme, ensuring a carryover of $2.16 million.
This was due in no small measure to a 15-1 upset by RUN ALDEENO the seventh race, the $1.5 million Breeders' Cup 2-Y-O Stakes over 1400 metres, and to a lesser extent the surprise defeat of three-star banker QUEEN OF MY HEART in the eighth race.
The 12-race programme also produced two other outsiders, namely SONOFAMINISTER who won the eventful fourth race at odds of 33-1 and INCOMMUNICADO at 11-1 in the second. As a result the first Pick-6 had no takers and offered a carryover of $1.5 million. The second Super-6 was caught by three punters, each receiving a whopping $955,857.
SONOFAMINISTER lost out in a driving finish to the howling 3-5 favourite ALINIGHT under US-based former Jamaican champion jockey Andrew Ramgeet, only to be awarded the race following a Stewards' Inquiry.
The Stewards took a decision to reverse the placings as Ramgeet, it would appear, angled out his mount a bit to meet the challenge of SONOFAMINISTER on the outside in the last furlong and bumped into him.
If that wasn't enough, the well-backed second favourite, THUNDER CLAP, experienced difficulty with her equipment at the start (though no fault of her own) and was badly tailed off from early.
Outpaced
On a day when Tessanne and Cezar provided the entertainment under the infield tent, Ramgeet gained compensation later on the programme when booting home the Wayne DaCosta-trained RUN ALDEENO (badly outpaced) in a thrilling blanket finish also involving his more fancied stable-companions MARK TO MARKET (Trevor Simpson up) and STRONG HOPE (Charles Hussey).
Last year in this very race Ramgeet brought the Noel Ennevor-trained 18-1 chance CHRISTMAS GIFT with a devastating run to catch RAMPAGE on the line.
What can one say about MIRACLE MAN? The massive chestnut colt duly made it 10 in a row in winning the Red Stripe Superstakes for the second consecutive year, gaining nods of approval from racing fans who hailed him as the best native bred horse in the 47-year history of Caymanas Park.
His legendary 'Hall of Fame' trainer, Allan 'Billy' Williams, admitted that he is a better horse than two-time 'Horse of the Year' LEGAL LIGHT who won the inaugural running of the Superstakes in 1978 and repeated the feat in 1981. Williams conditioned LEGAL LIGHT during his 3-y-o career in 1977.
On Sunday, 'Billy' said MIRACLE MAN came out of the race a little bit sore but he's still on target for the Con Fraternity Classic in Puerto Rico on Sunday, December 3.
