Orville Clarke, Freelance Writer
Wesley 'Callaloo' Henry rode two winners in Lady Sapna and Sophia. - FILE
LIGHTWEIGHT JOCKEY Wesley 'Callaloo' Henry kept within striking distance of leader Brian Harding at Caymanas Park yesterday by virtue of two winners on the nine-race programme.
His winners were LADY SAPNA at 5-2 for trainer Howard Jaghai in the second race for maiden three-year-olds and SOPHIA at 8-5 for in-form trainer Gary Subratie in the fifth over the circular nine course.
Meanwhile, the near unthinkable happened: champion jockey Harding failed to ride a winner from five attempts on the programme.
Henry, 31, thus seized the opportunity to move within four of the seven-time Trinidadian champion who leads the standings with 49 wins. Harding is four clear of Henry who in turn is two ahead of Charles Hussey, who also came up empty-handed, and three ahead of five-time champion Trevor Simpson, who rode one winner in the 2-5 favourite, MEDICAL ACCOUNT.
Henry says he is taking things one day at a time and hoping for the best in search of his second title.
A GOOD DAY
The 1997 champion said: "Well, I had a good day in relation to the others, but last Saturday it was my turn to lay an egg. As things now stand, I will need to ride winners every raceday if I hope to have a chance in December, but the important thing is that right now I am injury-free and enjoying my riding."
Subratie, meanwhile, saddled two winners in SOPHIA (made all) and 6-1 shot SONNY 'B' GOOD under veteran heavyweight jockey Richie Robertson in the third race over 1300 metres.
Subratie, who won the Most Improved Trainer award in 2003, is moving up the current standings to sixth position with 19 wins and just over $6 million in stakes.
With the meet offering no trophy races for the second consecutive raceday, DIAMOND KING (4-1) seized the opportunity to make all in the restricted allowance IV (non winners of three) over the straight five course which substituted as the feature.
Best drawn on the outside of the field, DIAMOND KING (4-1) was early in the lead from the favourite I AM NOT ORDINARY running in mid-track, just ahead of Hussey's mount BLACK RIVER. The 4-y-o son of Distinctive Bingo galloped on to the main track some two lengths clear of I AM NOT ORDINARY and BLACK RIVER, then kept on strongly in the latter stages to beat the highly fancied BLACK RIVER by two lengths in a field of eight.
Henry's mount, MONEY MAKER, missed the break but finished well for third, three-quarter lengths adrift of the runner-up.
DIAMOND KING is owned by Mark Manasseh and trained by Harry Jaghai. It was the colt's second win from 11 starts this season.
