By Orville Clarke, Freelance WriterTHE PICK-9 had no takers at Caymanas Park on Saturday and the carryover to tomorrow's midweek programme stands at $500,000.
Thanks to a 22-1 upset by EMMVEEPEE in the fourth race over the straight five course, the Pick-9 eluded the crowd, as only four punters with eight of nine finished in the money, each receiving a cool $31,803.
In contrast, the Super-6 embracing races five to 10 was caught by 142 punters, each securing $5,412.50. That was fairly easy to figure out as the fancied horses held their own for the most part.
The longest priced winner was STAR CREEK at odds of 3-1, while there were winning favourites in RESTLESS PEGASUS (4-5), CHOSEN ONE (1-2), SIR CHACHA BABA (8-5) and ZAMA at 2-1 in the highly competitive feature race, the RJR Classic which resulted in a bang up finish involving five horses.
COMPETITIVE
Indeed, so competitive was the feature that only a length covered the first five past the post. The winner ZAMA held on by a neck from highly fancied FORMALLY GOLD, followed by a nose to PEACE & LOVE in third, a half length to GOOD COMPANY in fourth and a nose to CAPTAIN BONE in fifth. That was the last race Hi-five recommended by this column and it paid as much as $2,855.50.
The overnight allowance class is obviously the most competitive over any distance and were this true with the other classes, Jamaica would boast the best racing product in this hemisphere.
ZAMA, who successfully shouldered top weight of 57.0kg, provided 'birthday boy' Dwight Chen with his third winner on the card and to say he was the happiest man at Caymanas Park would be an understatement. This was in fact the trainer's first three-timer since he started training in the latter part of 2001.
His other winners were the three-year-old colt OH NO GRANDPA in the third race over 1100 metres for maiden three-year-olds and the lightly raced but progressive 3-y-o gelding CHOSEN ONE in the one mile race for native and imported three-year-olds.
THREE WINNERS
One of three winners for champion jockey Trevor Simpson, CHOSEN ONE made all impressively, scoring by six lengths from the imported filly DOC'S PALADIN in the smart time of 1:39.0.
The bay gelding by Law Of The Sea out of Country Chosen is definitely going places in a hurry and ought to be followed. Incidentally, Chen celebrated his birthday on Sunday.
Saturday being the RJR Corporate Raceday, the action was not only on the track but under the infield tent as well.
There was fun, food and frolic galore and the day's activities clearly underline the fact that without big sponsored racedays, the racing product would lose much of its appeal.
Indeed, the RJR Communi-cations Group went that extra mile to ensure that their fifth annual raceday was a resounding success, both on and off the track.
