HARDING
NEWLY-CROWNED Jamaican champion jockey, Trinidadian Brian Harding, started the 2006 season in style at Santa Rosa racetrack in Trinidad on New Year's Day when riding two winners on the 10-race programme.
Harding, who flew out for Trinidad on January 1 after riding two winners at Caymanas Park on December 31 to win the title with 109 wins - nine ahead of dethroned champion Trevor Simpson - received a tremendous welcome in Trinidad for his oustanding achievement. He became the first non-Jamaican to win the title outright, surpassing the Panamanian José Bravo who shared it with apprentice Richard DePass in 1970.
Harding won the last two races on the holiday programme, the first aboard 9-2 chance SUNSET in the ninth race over 1200 metres and completed a quick double aboard 3-5 favourite FRESH WINGS in the closing race over 1750 metres.
Harding teamed up with Ray Ganpath to finish second in the Trinidad and Tobago International Jockeys' Championship, riding SUNSET to victory in the last of the three races.
Representing the Overseas Trinidadian team, Harding and Ganpath tallied 22 points, one behind the winners, team Canada represented by Trinidadan-born Richard Dos Ramos and female jockey Julio Brimo. The winning team received US$3,000. Defending champions Jamaica, represented by Oneil Mullings and Dane Nelson, finished sixth, each receiving US$500.
According to reports, Harding will continue to ride in Trinidad before making a decision whether to return to Jamaica to defend his title.
