Races abandoned due to heavy winds

- Dennis Coke

Before the stoppage, the Vin Edwards trained TERRIFIC EAGLE (left) with Chris Fearon aboard wins the 8th race at Caymanas Park yesterday

Orville Clarke, Freelance Writer

HEAVY WINDS mid-afternoon forced the abandonment of the last four races at Caymanas Park yesterday, but this had nothing to do with the presence of Tropical storm Chantal in the region.

The decision to abort the meet was taken after the running of the eighth race for maiden four-year-olds and up over the straight five course.

Caymanas Track Limited, the promoters, in consultation with the stewards of the Jamaica Racing Commission had no alternative but to call off the meet when heavy winds (which started from the fifth race), accompanied by dust bowl conditions, blew down camera towers on the roof of the stands.

In addition, billboards were blown on to the racing surface in the backstretch.

CTL, in a release yesterday afternoon, said "the abandonment of races nine through twelve, was to ensure the safety of the horses, jockeys, other racing officials on duty at various posts at Caymanas Park, and most importantly to protect the safety of racing fans".

The feature Jockey Stakes, on what was Jockey Club Day at the track, will be rescheduled, advertised and reopened for entries at a future date.

CTL's scheduled after-race simulcast programme from Del Mar in California was cancelled.

The windy conditions, which caused minor structural damage, was nothing more than a freak occurrence. Following the abandonment of the meet, the winds subsidised, so did the dusty conditions which caused poor visibility during the early stages of the eighth race, won by the Vin Edwards-trained TERRIFIC EAGLE at 5-2.

Ridden by Chris Fearon, the lightly raced five-year-old son of Terrific Tune ran on very strongly leaving the furlong pole to catch tearaway leader ROYAL LEWINSKY in the last 100 metres. It was a rare winner for owner/trainer Edwards, the outspoken and controversial vice-president of the Jamaica Racehorse Trainers' Association.

The racing was dominated by leading all-time jockey Winston "Fanna" Griffiths who rode three winners on the card in SAID I SAID I, a 4-5 favourite in the second race over 1200 metres, AIN'T JOKING an evens favourite in the fourth and smart two-year-old debutant SAINT COLUMBA, a 6-5 favourite for owner/trainer Richard Azan in the fifth over 1100 metres.

In all, Griffiths had five rides on the card, including ante-post favourite RAKKADASH in the Jockey Club Stakes and CLASSIC ACCOUNT in the closing race, both of which were among the four races abandoned.

With yesterday's three-timer, Griffiths, a five-time champion jockey and leading all-time rider in the English-speaking Caribbean, has moved within sight of his 1400th career win. He has so far totalled 1391 winners.

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