IMPRESSIVE riding from jockey Randolph Richmond saw his charge Treacle dominate the field to take the top prize in the feature event of the Rising Sun Turf Club-organised New Year’s Day horse race meeting held at the club’s Arima Park, West Coast Berbice track, last Thursday.

Competing in the event for horses classified D and Lower and asked to do so for a distance of 1400 metres, the entrants which also included Princess She’s Not, CP Got Even and Curfew Tower among others, were doing so in the form of a repeat of their Guyana Cup matchup held at the Port Mourant Turf Club early last month.
Princess She’s Not was quick out of the starter’s gate, with Curfew Tower in hot pursuit as they approached the top turn, with Curfew Tower taking the pole position before Treacle, who is known to pick up speed late in any race, did just that coming down the back stretch on the home turn and took the event from CP Got Even with Kevin Paul in its saddle and the Mahendra Sookhoo-piloted Curfew Tower in third.
Earlier, the day’s event, which saw seven races being contested, started with some amount of controversy in the G3 Maiden, H and Lower event when Paul Delph, who was aboard Send from Above, was relegated from the winner’s position to second place behind She’s So Special, with Colin Ross in her saddle.
Delph was well positioned to take the event, but having braced Ross and his charge She’s So Special all the way to the fence along the homestretch, the stewards considered his act unsportsmanlike and duly awarded the top position to Ross, with Delph claiming second and Super Bowl third.
The second race of the day saw horses compete in the J3 and Lower event, for which Speed Vision with Kevin Paul as the jockey, roding a brilliant race to take the top position from Smarty Light and Royal Intentions, after Smarty Light made its move early, but was caught by the eventual winner on the penultimate turn.
Unsettle took the third race for horses classified E and Lower from Swing Easy and Rosetta, even as Settling Star rode off with the two-year-old Guyana and West Indies-bred event from Loch Song and It’s My Choice in that order.
Race number five was competed by horses classified G and Lower and Appealing Harvest proved to be the best of the lot, coming away with the win from its stable-mate Release the Beast of Jumbo Jet Racing Stables, with Cassie in third position.
Red Jet is a favourite horse in any event. It competes within its weight class, the J and Lower category, and apart from the excitement it brings to the track, the horse is known as the cart horse who springs surprises on its competitors.
Last Thursday was no different, as Red Jet ran a strategic race down the back stretch to come from behind against the early runners in De Gump and Royal Intentions who opened a blistering pace, to come out victorious, with De Gump second and Royal Cash claiming third.
But in the end, it was Treacle’s win in the feature event, which set tongues wagging on a day of horse racing that started the 2015 season with a blistering pace, even as Ross was unquestionably named champion jockey.
Sponsors, such as beverage manufacturing giant Banks DIH Limited, Trophy Stall of Bourda Market and Hadi’s City Mall, Inshan Bacchus Trucking Service, Shariff Business Enterprise and Racing Stable, Poonai’s Pharmacy, Chester Fry of Bush Lot West Coast Berbice, Hablaw Meat Centre and businessman Rohan Oudit, have all contributed to making the event a success.