‘Subs’ paid for Sugar Mike in Bajan Gold Cup

A CONTINGENT of six horses will represent Trinidad and Tobago in three events on Sandy Lane Gold Cup Day, at the Garrison Savannah, Bridgetown, Barbados, March 6.

The sixtet which will help revive inter-island rivalry between the Caribbean neighbours have been split evenly in the three invitational events. Sugar Mike, winner of the  Stewards Cup and Gold Cup during the recently concluded Arima Race Club 2003 racing season, will be the main Trinidad and Tobago contender in the Sandy Lane Gold Cup. The Bertwin Samlalsingh-owned American bred colt, a top candidate for “Horse of the Year” honours, and three other awards on next Friday’s Jetsam Awards ceremony, raced unbeaten on the main course at Santa Rosa Park, Arima,  last year, scoring nine victories from 10 starts, only being beaten when racing on the turf circuits.

Sugar Mike was among the local runners for which first subscription was paid to compete in the 1800 metres Bajan “classic”  worth US$109,000 and rated the richest in the English-speaking Caribbean. Showing interest in the contest by paying the initial Bds$250 fee to the Trinidad and Tobago Racing Authority yesterday was Le Fabuleux Dansur, a lightly raced three-year-old colt owned by Dereck Joseph and trained by Rohit Dube. Carnival Messiah, triple crown winner of 2001 will have another crack at the Tanglewood Stakes, while Golden Honour is the other aiming for  the top prize in this 2000 metres event, which acts as one of the supporting races on Gold Cup Day in Barbados.

In recent times, the Bajan Gold Cup has grown in status and attracted entrants from Canada and The United States, and the race has been televised live to North America. Song Of Freedom and Bandinthong have set their sights on the Sandy Lane Spar Stakes and Trophy. Connections of the duo forked out Bds$100 to be among the early subscribers for the weight-for-age 5 1/2 furlong sprint catering for three-year-olds and over. This sprint is worth US$27,000 overall, with the winner getting $US10,000. Second subscriptions for all three events are due on January 30, with the final on February 13.