Singh dominates field to take Champion jockey award
… Habibulla named champion trainer
TWENTY-nine-year-old Canada-based Guyanese Sunny Singh dominated the field to gallop away with the champion jockey title, when the Rising Sun Turf Club (RSTC) hosted its Pre-Mashramani Horserace Meeting held at the RSTC, West Coast Berbice track last Sunday.
The professional jockey who was brought in specifically for this meet by president of the RSTC, Inshan Habibulla, displayed his dominance over his local competitors as he galloped away with four firsts and one second-place finish from his six starts.
Paul Delph set the pace for what was eventually an exciting day of racing, when he guided Alphabet to a pole-to-pole victory, but not before staving off a strong challenge from Singh who was aboard Gigli, to claim victory by half of a length.
The tactics of Singh in that race, set tongues wagging as he guided Gigli from the back of the field to the second place position and immediately, turfites, gathered at the venue, had his name on their tongue, some of them even placing their wager on the mount he would be saddling for the next race, with their pre-race favourites being placed on the back shelf.
He did not disappoint, as he took Casino Royale to two victories, including a dominating pole-to-pole five-length victory over Tiny 21.
After failing to finish in his next race which was won by Sea Rocket who had Rupert Ramnauth in its saddle, with World Class, Top of the Line and Laura Lee in Flight who pushed the frontrunners to the brink but did not have the finishing to complement same. It was all Singh from there on throughout the remainder of the day’s event.
He guided Dream Girl to an easy victory over Obama who was ridden by Mark Vossie and returned to take Casino Royale to her second victory in the penultimate race which was a perfect curtain-raiser for the feature event which culminated the day’s proceedings.
Having seen Tec-a-Taste, who was ridden by Vossie, made its way to the front, Singh who has been competing on the professional circuit in Canada for the past 10 years, was content to sit back in the pack until the final turn for home, where he used his whip conveniently on Casino Royale who responded to come away with the victory, even though it was by half a length over De Gump, Power Master and Clear Victory.
The feature event was marred by an injury to both Kumar Singh and Prem Chandra, two of the finest jockeys on the local scene, which took away the spotlight from Singh, who rode Illogical to a comfortable victory over Miss Orientate and pre-race favorite Annie’s Playmate.
Apart from the mishap in the final race which saw Chandra pick up a dislocated shoulder while the injury to Singh was not known as he was rushed off to the hospital by his relatives, the day was a perfect one for racing on a dry and dusty track, while the law enforcement officers did a splendid job in restraining the fans from taking over the track during the day.
While Singh was named the champion jockey, Fazal Habibulla, who, apart from being the vice-president of the RSTC and also a horse trainer, walked away with the champion trainer title, having seen four of his charges including Casino Royale dominate the field.
Jockeys, horse owners, trainers and racing fans and turfites will now turn their eyes to the Kennard Memorial Turf Club (KMTC) Annual Phagwah meeting which is set for Sunday 7th March at the KMTC, Bush Lot Corentyne race track.