Jardim misses Pontefract glory

What a surprise when Jardim, former Trinidad trainer and Paddock Manager at Santa Rosa Park, Arima, walked into the parade ring with a horse, Island Prince, in the Maraval Nursery Stakes at the Pontefract race course in West Yorkshire. That was the second race on the card.

Jardim is the assistant trainer to Angela Duffield, wife of veteran jockey George Duffield, a well-known personality in Trinidad.

He stood not too far from the winning line as his charge, Island Prince failed by two lengths to win the race at 9/1 odds.

On a day when more than 5,000 punters turned up at the track for the annual Trinidad and Tobago Day, Jardim’s appearance at the track was a big surprise. Jardim told Newsday he was fed up with the way things were going in Trinidad.

In the 1980s, Jardim was doing well at the Queen’s Park Savannah with his horses. Frustrated at the way Trinidad racing was progressing, Jardim moved to greener pastures in Miami a few years later.

He returned home in 2000, hoping that everything would have been better. He started training again and had a small string of horses at Santa Rosa.

Jardim was also appointed Paddock Manager by the Arima Race Club. Again, frustration stepped in and Jardim was looking at another foreign stint.

Jardim got the breakthrough at the Christmas meeting in 2004 when Duffield came to Trinidad to ride for him.

"Mrs Duffield asked me to be her assistant in Yorkshire, and I said, why not. "We applied for the work permit in England. It took two and a half months before we got it. That permit is valid for five years," he said.

Jardim arrived in England on February 18 and moved to Mrs Duffield’s stable.

And he said he has enjoyed every minute of the last eight months in England. He said the barn has scored 20 wins for the 2005 season.

There are about 25 horses in the stable, but Jardim anticipates there would be 40 very soon. In addition to horses for the flat, he said the stable also has jump horses.

With the stable situated in Yorkshire, Jardim said their horses normally race in North England.

Why? The former TT trainer said it is too costly to race horses in London and the south of England.

"It costs about ?600 to transport horses to London.

That is $6,000 TT. It does not make sense when you are racing for small purses. So, we stay up here in the North, even racing as far as Carlisle in Scotland.

"Pontefract is in our back yard, and I must say, the success is coming."