Orville Clarke, Freelance WriterTHE AMERICAN 4-y-o colt RIZZI LEE duly made it five in a row at Caymanas Park yesterday with another emphatic victory, lifting the J.W. 'Judge' Hardie Memorial Cup by four lengths from old rival CORDITE.
The 1600-metre feature for high claimers was a virtual replay of a similar race for $350,000 to $330,000 claimers on June 18 when RIZZI LEE beat CORDITE into second place by you guessed it - four lengths, as the 4/5 favourite.
On that occasion he was conditioned by champion trainer Philip Feanny, but was claimed out of that race by trainer Philbert Watson on behalf of Borris McIntosh.
Yesterday, it could be said that RIZZI LEE won on three legs, as the free-running son of Rizzi-Laura Lee finished lame. He had to be dismounted by jockey Wesley 'Callaloo' Henry shortly after, limping back to the winners' enclosure for the most part.
Still, his victory was fairly straight forward. He was ridden to chase the early leader NATURAL SELECTOR (39-1) at close range before going through on the inside rails at the half mile. He turned for home some three lengths clear of NATURAL SELECTOR and JACK SPARROW, then kept on strongly for his fifth consecutive win from eight starts locally. Significantly, RIZZI LEE has won his last three races with Henry in the saddle.
On a day when flags were flown at half mast as a mark of respect to the late retired handicapper, Leslie McRae who died at age 86 last Wednesday after serving the racing industry for more than 40 years, RIZZI LEE was one of five favourites to score on the 11-race programme.
The others were FUTZ, DIGI N' JIGGY, HEAD OVER HEELS and FROMRUSSIAWITHLOVE, who romped the closing race for $140,000 claimers at 9-5.
The outstanding performance of the afternoon was turned in by the 2003 Superstakes winner PITTACUS (4-1), who put away a good field of open allowance horses over 1500 metres, this under the top weight of 57kg with title-chasing jockey Brian Harding riding for in-form trainer Anthony 'Baba' Nunes.
PITTACUS, who came through early in the straight in a field of eight, has now won three of his past four races.
