By Melton Williams, Staff Reporter
Bryan ... rode EL MATADOR to an upset win.
FOR the eighth consecutive week, maximum 32 points has eluded everyone in the Racing Pools.
No one was good enough to gain 31 or 30 points, but seven punters tallied 29 points, claiming the category two first prize dividend of $28,680.10 each.
The carryover to this week's game stands at a whopping $993,165.90, paving the way for a first prize of well over a million dollars.
A breakdown of the other prizes is as follows:
41 second dividends of $1,399.00 each for 28 points.
133 third dividends of $215.60 each for 27 points.
No fourth place dividend was declared.
On a day when a 34-1 horse by the name of SUNDAY AT ONE, running for the first time with Chris Douglas, and EL MATADOR at 27-1 shot, with Peter Bryan aboard, were unsaddled in the winners' enclosure it was obvious that the Pools which was last cornered on September 29 would have eluded everyone.
Before the two hard-to-find winners, many coupons went up in flames after the first Pools race when Vassell Najair piloted 7-2 chance SANDBAGGER to a mild upset win in a race that most punters used as many as three in CLEVER STAR, AWESOME GAIN and SONG SO SWEET.
There were no surprises in the second and third Pools races as overseas-based Jamaican jockey Shane Ellis guided favourites SILVER FOX and BINGO PRINCESS to comfortable victories.
But thereafter the going got rough as SUNDAY AT ONE made all the running and held on from CHARMING BELLE and odds on favourite SATISFIER and as a result crashed the party.
Of the seven coupons which cashed in on the category two first prize dividend, a Kingston 8 punter took his chances with $48.00 and was well rewarded. Thirty-two points eluded him after the fourth race in which he used two horses in ROYAL EXPEDITION and SATISFIER. The small spender did not spot EL MATADOR in the fifth race as he banked 3-2 chance SELENA MYSTIQUE, the filly threw it away at the start by walking out.
A big spender took his chances with $4,800 and like the small spender used bankers in the fifth and sixth pools races.
Apart from SILVER FOX and BINGO PRINCESS widely used, other popular winners were I'MSATISFIED who won the Lotto Gold Cup at the generous odds of 5-1 and GANADOR (2-1) the only winner for leading rider Charles Hussey.
