- Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
A KING IS BORN, ridden by five-time champion jockey Winston Griffiths, wins yesterday's Caymanas Park feature for the She's On Wheel's Trophy in impressive fashion, leaving in his wake top sprinter LIL' COUNTRY BOY.
Orville Clarke, Freelance Writer
TRACK & POOLS dubbed it the Clash of the Titans but the reigning 'Horse of the Year', A KING IS BORN, reported in unbeatable fashion at Caymanas Park yesterday to win the She's Wheels Trophy feature over 1100 metres, humbling the crack American sprinter LIL'COUNTRY BOY in the process.
Excitement reached fever pitch among racing fans when A KING IS BORN and LIL'COUNTRY BOY, toting top weight of 59kg, paraded in front of the stands and this intensified to a great extent after the race. Loud cheers greeted the two superstars as they came on to the track and judging from the response of turfites, it was more an event than a race.
The betting made both horses joint favourites at 3-5 with A KING IS BORN, ridden by leading all-time jockey Winston Griffiths for many-time champion trainer Philip Feanny, selling a mere handful more tickets than the Wayne DaCosta-trained LIL' COUNTRY BOY, bidding for his fifth consecutive win with champion jockey Trevor Simpson again at the helm.
HARD RIDDEN
It was A KING IS BORN who broke winging from the No. 1 post position ahead of COURT CASE (7-1) and LIL' COUNTRY BOY who seemed a trifle tardy in the five-horse field. Despite this, the American 4-y-o colt was hard ridden by Simpson to take on A KING IS BORN racing on the rails.
Both passed the half mile with A KING IS BORN in front by half a length from LIL' COUNTRY BOY hard ridden on the outside, but it soon became obvious that 'COUNTRY BOY', who has never been led in seven previous races this season, was in trouble.
With A KING IS BORN turning for home a length and a half clear and full of running, Griffiths only had to keep him up to the work in order to leave LIL' COUNTRY BOY for dead approaching the furlong pole, as he powered home by 4 3/4 lengths from the lightly weighted COURT CASE, who stayed on (rails) from below the distance for second.
LIL' COUNTRY BOY (eased by Simpson) even lost third within shades of the wire to the Feanny-trained MILLIMETRE who finished a farther four lengths adrift.
Owned by Howard Hamilton (Hamark Farms) and bred by Ken Gooden, A KING IS BORN is now unbeaten in three starts this season. Winner of last year's Guineas and Derby, the 4-y-o colt by Royal Minister out of the 1990 Guineas and Derby winner Distinctly Native, A KING IS BORN who is the older half brother of this season's Guineas and Derby winner DISTINCTLY IRISH covered the distance in the extremely fast time of 1:04.2 behind fantastic splits of 22.1 for the first quarter and 44.4 for the half mile.
Indeed, his running time was the fastest for 1100 metres (5 1/2 furlongs) since the track was resurfaced in 1998. Griffiths said he expected A KING IS BORN to win and his intention was to make all.
"When I realised that he broke in front of Lil' Country Boy, I knew it would be hard to pass me from the outside draw and he was always holding the challenge in the backstretch. He's a really talented horse," said the five-time champion jockey.
Hamilton, with the recent disappointment of DISTINCTLY IRISH losing the Triple Crown in the St. Leger squarely behind him, said: "A King Is Born, as I have told you before is, always my No. 1 horse. Distinctly Irish is a nice horse and will win a lot of races at the highest level, but whether he will reach the heights of A King Is Born is left to be seen."
Turning to the response of racing fans, Hamilton said this was the type of race that would bring crowds back to the track.
GENUINE STARS
"Horses like A King Is Born and Lil' Country Boy excite the crowd and this is what the sport is all about ... the genuine stars," he said.
Losing rider 'Slicer' Simpson added his two cents worth: "Lil' Country Boy was backing up a bit at the start and was not sharply away from the gates as usual. Still, he gave it his all and the better horse on the day was the winner. I am looking forward to a rematch."
Simpson and Larris Allen shared the riding honours with two winners each, while Feanny, who won the feature last year with I'MSATISFIED (Griffiths up) in a dead-heat with stable-companion SPIRIT OF JAM-AICA, posted three winners in A KING IS BORN, RAKKADASH and SEATTLE SUE.
