STOLEN Money sparked a major upset in the feature event of the Jumbo Jet Race of Champions at the Rising Sun Turf Club, West Coast Berbice. The Dennis Deroop-owned horse displayed great speed and skill in the one-mile feature race. Now trained by the veteran Fazal Habibulla, Stolen Money won a tense sprint home with John Bull, who finished second, while Spankhurst came third.
Stolen Money walked away with the first-place prize of G$2M. Bossalina and Easy Time were scratched from the feature event. The three horses that ran were Spankhurst, Stolen Money, and John Bull. Jockey Appadu finished the Race of Champions as the champion jockey, with three wins for the day.
In overcast conditions, the race day got off to a flying start with the K Class & Lower horses running a 5.5 furlong. In a scintillating time of one minute, 19.63 seconds, Rescue (formerly Tizway) sealed the top spot, followed by Get Them Bobby, and Money Time.
Race Two was the I Class, J Class & West Indian-bred three-year-old maidens. Sex Appeal, piloted by Kiran Razack, emerged victor, while Hayley came second. Dan Star was the other horse in that race.
The L Class and J3 first-time starters saw Princess Samiah sealing the deal, while Perfect Dream came second. Kiss came third, while Three D Movie ran fourth.
Race Four was all Creemore, who took down fast-starter Converter. Jockey Ronaldo Appadu was the architect in Creemore’s victory, who rode a beautiful race, and began the sprint at the right time in the E, & F Class & Lower race.
In addition to Converter, who came second, American Traveller came third. Looking to Heaven, who finished fourth, found it difficult to jump out of the starters gate.
Trinidadian jock Rico Hernandez finally delivered with a supreme victory with Theory of Colors in the H Class race. Theory of Colors finished ahead of Supremacy and Smooth Sailing.
Jockey Kishan Pereira fell for the second time that day. He’d fallen earlier on Bolt and Nut, then he fell off Blinding Lights. According to the stewards, Pereira fell of his own accord twice in the day. He suffered a fractured collarbone.
The penultimate race of the seven-card programme saw Country Rock cruising to an easy win in the three-year-old Guyana-bred. Jockey Appadu controlled the one-mile race, finishing ahead of Bin Laden, She’s A Monica, and Easy Jet, in that order.
More than G$10 million in cash and prizes were up for grabs on what was deemed another successful race hosted by the Jumbo Jet Thoroughbred Racing Committee.
The major sponsors of this Race of Champions meet were Banks DIH, AJM Enterprise, Jumbo Jet, Sino Truck, and XCMG. Additional sponsors were N&M Trucking & Auto Sales, SHI Oil Fuel Distributor, Forrester’s Concrete, Knight Industries Inc. Auto Sales, Spares, and Excavating and Trucking.
The next race is set for May 26 at the Port Mourant Turf Club.
