Orville Clarke, Gleaner Writer
A KING IS BORN (Winston Griffiths) winning one of his three races this season at Caymanas Park. - File
TODAY'S GRADED stakes feature for the She's On Wheels Trophy at Caymanas Park should provide the reigning 'Horse of the Year' A KING IS BORN with his second consecutive win in this valuable 1100-metre race.
Last year, A KING IS BORN humbled his arch rival LIL'COUNTRY BOY in what was billed as the 'Clash of the Titans'.
On this occasion, the crack American sprinter is absent from the five-horse field. However,
in his place is another highly-thought-of American-bred colt, CLOCK WORK, who happens to be a stable companion of 'COUNTRY BOY', both conditioned by leading trainer Wayne DaCosta.
SPEED DUEL
In bidding for his third win from his last four starts, A KING IS BORN faces a worthy opponent in the lightly-weighted CLOCK WORK and it should come down to a straight fight between them.
It promises to be a blistering speed duel between the two principals, but, in the end, I expect A KING IS BORN to prevail.
Both have worked exceptionally well in preparation for this trophy, but the fact that A KING IS BORN has finished ahead of CLOCK WORK on the only two occasions they have met in recent weeks, tilts the balance in his favour.
When both horses last met in the Chairman's Trophy over 1500 metres on June 18, A KING IS BORN allowed CLOCK WORK to lead him into the straight before coming through approaching the distance to beat him by a length under top weight of 59.kg.
That was a very brave effort by CLOCK WORK and he will only go down fighting in this rematch. But class is class and A KING IS BORN has an abundance of it.
SUPPORTING FEATURES
Supporting features on the 11-race programme are the round five Terremoto Trophy for native-bred two-year-olds, which brings together the quartet of MINISTER ON FIRE, DOUBLE RALLY, stable companion SAMARAONTHELOOSE and QUEEN TAMARA (all winners last time) and the $150,000 claiming race for the Drumbeat Trophy to be contested by 11 starters over the straight five course.
The grey filly SAMARAONTHELOOSE impressed when scoring by five lengths on her debut over three furlongs straight, covering the distance in track record time of 34.1.
Trained by Barrington Rambally, the daughter of Footloose II continues to work well and gets the nod over DOUBLE RALLY who also impressed on his debut over two furlongs straight on May 4.
Other firm fancies on the card are LONG LONG JOURNEY over HEAVENLY DREAMS and ZEALOT in the ninth race for the Drumbeat Trophy, another straight specialist PHYSICS BOOK in the second, HEAD OVER HEELS to repeat in the sixth, HOUDINI AGAIN in the seventh, PRETTY HILLY in the eighth and REJECT to turn the tables on old rival REJECT and MOLTEN LAVA in the 11th.
