VIRTUALLY UNKNOWN contender, THE BOMBER, caused a major stir when it won the prestigious Digicel Jamaica Derby at Caymanas Park on Saturday.
Owned by Rosiedoll Syndicate, trained by Patrick Lynch, bred by Cheryl and Kristi Marsh and groomed by Carl Taylor, the three-year-old bay colt by Outrigger out of Nuttin But Red by Thirty Six Red, made every post a winning one over the 2400 metres trip under leading all-time jockey Winston 'Fanna' Griffiths to upstage its more favoured rivals Rum Talk, Mucho Gusto and Il Caimano.
Interestingly though, there were no surprises among the top four finishers in the 10-horse field as the winner of the Derby was expected from this lot.
Rum Talk, the 2000 Guineas winner, was the howling favourite at 3-5, followedin the betting by Mucho Gusto at 3-1, The Bomber (4-1) and IL CAIMANO (5-1).
The betting public had enough time to make a fairly good assessment of fast-finishing RUM TALK, MUCHO GUSTO and IL CAIMANO as they had all been racing since they were two-year-olds.
THE BOMBER provided a different proposition since it had never raced in that most juvenile age grouping, and moreso, the fact that it had only made its debut on May 5, less than a month before the Derby.
12-length victory
In that event, a 1500-metres maiden for three-year-olds, THE BOMBER announced itself with a 12-length victory, clocking 1:34.4 on a muddy track.
Less than three weeks later, when it returned to the track in a non-winners of two event, THE BOMBER again scorched rivals to win by six lengths, this time over 1820m in 1:58.4.
Despite the emphatic margins of victory, the front-running colt was not expected to get the better of the other three leading contenders because they were deemed to have more class and experience.
But alas, logical thinking doesn't translate into similar performances all the time, hence the reason why the games are played.
Another factor which played nicely into THE BOMBER's strides was that the race lacked a true pacesetter so it was allowed to dictate the proceedings all the way through.
More than six lengths ahead of the field at the half-mile, it was clear the rest had some serious catching up to do as the other jockeys got bustling while the vastly experienced Fanna, with 10 Derby winners already in the bag, was actually reining in THE BOMBER, who appeared set for a blast.
It continued that way past the winning post with Fanna - holder of a world record 42 Classic victories - virtually standing in the saddle while the other riders worked feverishly, in vain, RUM TALK coming with its traditional late run to finish two lengths behind the colt, and MUCHO GUSTO a length farther behind.
The Derby was in fact the slowest, run in 2:40.1, almost a full two seconds off the 2:38.2 recorded by the outstandingI'MSATISFIED, the 2000 Triple Crown winner.
Quality of THE BOMBER
That, however, doesn't say much about the quality of THE BOMBER, who really did not appear to extend itself, as it was not really pushed and seemed to have a tank full in reserve.
It's victory ensured that for the second year running, a horse from a small stable won the Derby.
Trainer Lynch was the big man this time around, following in the footsteps of Eraldo Fullerton, whose Ransom Man turned last year's Derby into a farce with a 9-1/4 lengths victory.
Similar to this year, the main 2006 Derby contenders in HIDALGO, MYLEGACY, ALLIEDFORCE and to a lesser extent RANSOM MAN, occupied top spots. The great exception was RAMPAGE, which finished 11th in the 13-horse field.
In a way, the manner of THE BOMBER's victory brought back memories of 2004 when RUN PAPA RUN went one-bell to thwart a DISTINCTLY IRISH Triple Crown bid.
With LADY T winning the 1000 Guineas, RUM TALK the 2000 Guineas and now THE BOMBER landing the Derby, there are no Triple Crown hopefuls this time as the Saturday, July 7, mile-and-quarter St. Leger looms.
However, THE BOMBER's Derby victory would have inspired some new thinking and interests as it exclaimed its credentials with aplomb to becoming a known contender for the next Classic and the racing future.
