By Orville Clarke, Freelance Writer 
Cordite (second left), running at odds of 7-1 with jockey Richard Mitchell astride, is driven out to win the sixth race over 1600 metres in a driving finish from Sir Kisson Lal (left), with apprentice Marklee Buchanan aboard and the 8-5 favourite Crimson Magic (second right) with apprentice Kerry-Gayle Robinson, who fininshed a close-up third, at Caymanas Park on New Year's Day. At right is the fifth-placed horse, Tigerinthewoods. Cordite is owned by Errol Burke and trained by Rowan Mathie. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
A NEW season of racing commenced at Caymanas Park on Saturday and straight off the bat Pick-9 players were foiled by a stunning upset in the fourth race won by the 36-1 outsider, ANNA PERENNA.
As a result, the carryover to next Saturday's race meet stands at $588,731. There were six
punters with eight of nine winners, each receiving $15,371.
Ridden by apprentice Patrick Henry Jnr. for in-form trainer Anthony 'Baba' Nunes, ANNA PERENNA made all over the straight course to win by a length from another American filly, EXPLOSIVE PEAK, who chased her relentlessly throughout.
ANNA PERENNA thus floored the odds on 4-5 favourite JACK SPARROW, who could only manage third, and highly fancied JACK BE GOOD (8-5), who was fifth in a field of nine.
In spite of the upset, the fancied horses held their own in the Pick-9 races for the most part, with BROTHER DANIEL, HEARTOFAMAVERICK and DIGI N' JIGGY winning as firm favourites, while SIMPLY AWESOME and THE VICE, both 2-1 shots, won as the second favourite in their respective races.
'CLAIMER OF THE YEAR'
Mild upsets came via CORDITE at 7-1 in the sixth race and UNLEADED at 5-1 in the 10th race for the CTL Fan Appreciation Day Trophy. Both won in driving finishes involving three horses.
Pick-9 players received a perfect start in the third race where the evens favourite BROTHER DANIEL, a leading contender for 'Claimer of the Year', was produced by in-form apprentice Marklee Buchanan approaching the distance to beat highly fancied TOCUMEN in decisive fashion.
Prior to this win, BROTHER DANIEL ended the 2004 season as the best claimer at Caymanas Park, having won five races. But is he deserving of the Claimer of the Year award?
The argument in some quarters is that while BROTHER DANIEL excelled in claiming races and was pretty consistent as well (winning three trophy races and over $1.1 million in the process), he was not a true claiming horse, but one who used claiming as a convenience, having proved competitive in overnight allowance company as recent as Boxing Day when finishing fourth to BANJUHAR over 1300 metres.
In short, he is just better than the top claiming level. Note he had never contested a $300,000 and less tag in 2004.
Two horses who did well in claiming races last year were PRIME FURY (four wins) and MR. VIGOROUS, both worthy contenders for the award. MR. VIGOROUS was beaten out of sight (last) by BROTHER DANIEL on Saturday but despite this, won five races during the year and qualifies as more of a 'true claimer' than BROTHER DANIEL in my book.
STRONG CASE
My reason for saying this is that he won on a $210,000 early in the season, eventually going on to win on a $330,000 tag in mid-August before coming back to win easily over 1500 metres on a $210,000 tag on November 27 earning well over a $1 million in the process. Significantly, all five wins also came under the guidance of trainer Garettt Arscott.
MR. VIGOROUS certainly has a strong case for the award, if only for the fact that he characterises the general principle on which the claiming system was built winning your way up the claiming ladder.
Nearly all the bets that started so promisingly with BROTHER DANIEL went up in smoke after ANNA PERENNA's shock win.
In the fifth race, howling favourite HEARTOFAMAVERICK provided four-time champion jockey Charles Hussey and former champion trainer Wayne DaCosta with the first of two winners in lifting the New Year's Day Trophy over 1300 metres.
HEARTOFAMAVERICK, who has had his problems, duly completed a hat-trick of wins in the space of seven weeks. Prior to that the four-year-old son of Maverick-Wild Heart was sidelined for nine months due to a leg operation.
In conversation with DaCosta, the trainer added his voice to the debate as to whether it was right for the promoters to run the Harry Jackson Memorial Cup on Boxing Day with all the runners coming from one stable.
DIFFERENT SPIN
"I have no problem with that," he was quick to point out. "I saw in your article where you said a precedence was set by trainer Arthur Sharpe in 1971, but on one occasion I also had all the runners in a race won by War Zone some years ago.
"What I would object to is if all the horses were owned by the same person. This would put a completely different spin on the issue," said the 2003 champion, who last year was dethroned by arch rival Philip Feanny in the championship race, even though emerging the winningest trainer with 80 successes. DaCosta had more to say on the state of racing, but this is for an upcoming article.
The trainer and Hussey teamed up for an easy win with the lightly raced DIGI N' JIGGY in the eighth race for maiden three-year-olds, but missed out on a triple when top weight and favourite MEDIC ON BOARD could only manage sixth to UNLEADED in the CTL Fan Appreciation Day Trophy.
