Orville Clarke, Freelance Writer

With as many as five favourites obligingon Saturday's Oaks Day programme at Caymanas Park, the Pick-9 not surprisingly failed to survive the day's racing.

It was caught by six punters, each receiving $166,666.50. With none of the races resulting in an upset, it should have been more like 60 rather than six.

Winning favourites were NATURALLY ROYAL at 3-5 in the first of the Pick-9 races, the third; GUIDING LIGHT at evens in the fifth; TANTESOLDE at similar odds in the sixth; BORN-A-GRIERFIELD at 7-5 in the seventh; and RING OF FIRE at 4-5 in the ninth.

Additionally, the four remaining winners all started as second favourites in their respective races - namely, MOST WANTED at 7-2 in the fourth, RAMPAGE at 9-5 in the eighth race for the Lady Geeta Trophy, LADY T at 5-2 in the 10th - the 68th running of the Jamaica Oaks -and CLASSY BOY PETE at 5-2 in the nightpan.

ONE Lucky lady

In contrast, only two punters shared the $2.1 million Pick-9 on the previous Saturday, including a popular female punter who has been associated with local racing for close to 40 years.

She spent just over $2,000 and coming into the last race, elected to bank 9-2 chance SIR KISSON LAL,despite the presence of more fancied horses, such as the runner-up SIR MOHANDAS BABA and MICHAEL POWER.

As luck would have it in her case, SIR KISSON LAL overhauled the leader MICHAEL POWER midway the last furlong and just held on by a nose from the fast-finishing 6-5 favourite SIR MOHANDAS BABA.

This was not the first time that this lucky lady was winning big on exotic bets. Just over a year ago, she was the sole winner of a $650,000 Super-6. And in the last race, her winning horse won by, you guessed it, a nose.

She is , however, a generous lady who spend big at times. But she loves the thrill of racing and seldom misses a race meet.

We need more punters like Madame X, who has a genuine love for racing, whether it's a good day or a bad day at Black Rock.

Seven claimed

SEVEN horses changed hands at Caymanas Park on Saturday, including easy winners LITTLE SNOW JOHN, GUIDING LIGHT and RING OF FIRE.

In the first race, LITTLE SNOW JOHN was claimed for $260,000 by trainer Neive Graham on behalf of Teafore Bennett.

Also claimed in the first race were beaten favourite PRINCE NATHANIEL for $250,000 by trainer Paul Campbell for Wane Wilson and SOY MUJER for $260,000 by trainer Patrick Fong on behalf of Inner Circle.

In the fifth race, the winner GUIDING LIGHT was taken from trainer Desmond Shand for $380,000 by Oaks winning trainer Dwight Chen for himself, while the runner-up ALL FIRED UP was claimed for $360,000 by trainer Paul Fung for himself.

The final two claims came in the ninth race won by RING OF FIRE. Trained by Robert Darby Jr. for his father Darby Sr., RING OF FIRE was picked up for $170,000 by Desmond Shand on behalf of Eda Morris. And the runner-up SHALOMI KUMAR was also taken for $170,000 by trainer M. Buchanan for himself.