MILLIMETRE, Brian Harding, moves away from THE SANDMAN, Trevor Simpson, to win the Lady Geeta Trophy over 1200 metres at Caymanas Park on Saturday. THIRTY PUNTERS with maximum 32 points shared the $97,000 first dividend prize declared on last Saturday's Racing Pools game with each one receiving $3,248.40.
A breakdown of the other prizes is as follows:
206 third dividends of $64.40 each for 31 points.
483 third dividends of $27.40 each for 30 points. No fourth declared.
Friday racing played havoc with sales, which stood at a disappointing $178,672.00 on only 917 coupons. This, however, was up a bit on the previous week, when sales closed from the Thursday - Good Friday being a public holiday.
Among the winners was a veteran racing writer who, as usual, marked a number of coupons, two of which gained maximum points. His 15 coupons also claimed countless second and third dividends to push his winnings past the $9,000 mark.
In one race, the sixth for conditional $100,000 claimers, he marked as many as 10 horses (the maximum) and in addition to the winner, FIGHTING QUEEN (4-1) under jockey Larris Allen, also had the runner-up SEEMELATER (6-5 favourite), the third horse JACO BITE (27-1) and the fourth, BELLY DANCER (21-1).
"I was hoping that an outsider like Jaco Bite would win, but he came when the race was over. If that horse had connected, I don't think more than five persons would have won and my winnings would have been enormous", he said.
He stoutly defended his method of placing many coupons in each game, even though this was the first time he was winning anything substantial for the better part of a year.
TIME CONSUMING
"I believe that the more coupons I put in the more chances I have of winning. True, it's time consuming to mark so many coupons. To keep track of them, I then have to construct a chart which I refer to after each race", he explains.
He said people have ridiculed him from time to time but in the past, the system paid off handsomely for him. He recalled that on two occasions in the early 80s, he alone won lucrative first prizes.
"This enabled me to pay off the mortgage on my house and also to make additions as well", said the retired civil servant.
Last Friday, his 15 coupons combined cost just over $2,800. The two that won were purchased for $200 and $162. However, had SEEMELATER not come a trifle late, all 15 coupons would have won first prizes. Since the start of the year, he confessed that on occasions he has put in over 30 coupons and one occasion went as high as 44.
The game produced five winning favourites in five-star banker PRINCESS ALEXANDRA, BLACK THATCH, ETERNAL STREAM, DON FABULOSA, NAUGHTY BY NATURE in the Courts Jamaica Oaks and LADY WAHEEDA in the closing race. The first three were ridden by champion jockey Trevor Simpson.
Indeed, FIGHTING QUEEN was the day's longest priced winner at 4-1, followed by JUICE at 5-2.
- O. C.
