Orville Clarke, Freelance Writer
ALPHA LUPA, running at odds of 15-1 with champion jockey Brian Harding aboard, gets up in the nick of time to catch long-time leader, HOUDINI AGAIN (Winston Griffiths) in the ninth race for the L.C. McKenzie Memorial Cup overnight allowance feature at Caymanas Park on Saturday. The gray filly is trained by Anthony Nunes. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
BOTH THE Pick-9 and Super-6 eluded punters at Caymanas Park on Saturday, ensuring carryovers to this weekend's big St. Leger race meet.
Thanks to notable upsets by ALPHA LUPA (15-1) and SIR CHACHA BABA (8-1) in the last two races, the Pick-9 saw one punter with eight of nine collecting $149,593.00.
The carryover stands at $1 million. The Super-6 carryover stands at $764,364.15 and with this being the more popular of the two bets, a payout in the region of $2 million looks a real possibility.
Barring the two outsiders, the Pick-9 produced a number of popular winners, including four favourites in RAMADA, JET BLASTER, METEOR MAN and NATURAL SELECTOR.
ELATED RIDER
The latter, running at odds of 9-5, romped the mile and quarter renewal of the W. 'Billy' Pick Memorial Cup to give the sparingly-used jockey Garfield 'Midget' Gordon his first winner since FLYING EAGLE in 1995.
The elated rider was the toast of the Jockeys' Room as his colleagues welcomed him back into the fold with open arms. Gordon could not hide his glee.
"I'm thrilled to ride a winner after such a long time, but it did not come easy. I had to work hard in order to get back in shape and I am happy that the owner and trainer saw it fit to put me aboard a winning horse.
"The feeling was great and I am looking forward to riding more winners in the near future", said Gordon, who started his career as a smart young rider in 1992 and rode dozens of winners, before falling off the radar.
Gordon graduated from the Jockeys' School along with batchmates Clive Lynch, Paul Ramsay and history-making female jockey, Azel Cowie.
