TT jockey Harding poised for Jamaica title

PORTMORE, Jamaica: Trinidad and Tobago’s Brian Harding is now perfectly poised to capture Jamaica’s 2005 jockeys’ title after winning four races Saturday afternoon to extend his lead over rival and defending champion Trevor Simpson in the championship battle at Caymanas Park. Starting the day five wins ahead (100-95), Harding streaked to 104 wins this season, eight clear of the local star Simpson, who managed only one win on the programme to move up to 96. Only two race days remain in the year and to retain his title, Simpson needs to achieve the unlikely feat of outscoring Harding by nine wins in the remaining meets — Tuesday and Saturday. Harding kicked off the programme with an unchallenged victory in the first race aboard the four-year-old filly Velocity and stretched his lead to six over Simpson, who had booked a whopping nine rides on the ten-race programme.

Velocity, trained by former jockey Tensang Chung, dominated the six-furlong sprint and won by 5-1/4 lengths in a time of one minute 15 and 4/5ths of a second. This was the only race on the card in which Simpson did not have a ride. The seven-time Trinidad and Tobago champion jockey then solidified his championship position with back-to-back wins in the third and fourth races that widened the gap on Simpson to a bulky eight wins and appeared to cripple the Jamaican’s hopes of keeping the title he has won every year since 2002. In the 1000-metre third race for two-year-olds, Harding piloted the filly Ring of Fire to a two-length victory in 1:01.4/5ths for trainer Anthony Nunes and Barbadian owner Elias Haloute. Simpson ended fourth aboard Awesome Dot Com. In the fourth race over 1600 metres, Simpson finished second aboard Royal Kingdom as Harding swept to a four-length victory astride the three-year-old gelding Libertador for trainer Chung in 1:43.2/5ths.

Simpson responded with a fighting win by one length in the 6 1/2 furlong fifth race aboard the six-year-old gelding Razzak, covering the sprint trip in 1:23.2/5ths. Harding’s next win came in the eighth aboard the five-year-old mare Jetlyn’s Drama, scoring by a length while Simpson finished fifth aboard Saint Colombia. The title-chasing pair missed a top-three spot in the featured Royal Crest Trophy race that ex-champion Wesley Henry won aboard Hafifa. Simpson finished fourth with Royal Sea, 1-1/2 lengths ahead of fifth-placed Querida with Harding up. Harding is bidding for his first championship win outside of his native Trinidad and Tobago, while Simpson is aiming for his fourth consecutive Jamaica jockeys’ title and sixth overall.

A title win for the Trinidadian rider will make him the first non-Jamaican to land the jockeys’ title at Caymanas Park in 35 years — since Panamanian Jose Bravo won in 1970. Top-ten Jamaican jockeys: 1. Brian Harding 104 wins; 2. Trevor Simpson 96; 3 Paul Francis 62; 4. Charles Hussey 59; 5. Wesley Henry 45; 6. Dalton Brown 33; 7. Dane Nelson 32; 8. Kerry-Gayl Robinson 28; 9. Andron Findley 27; 10. Winston Griffiths 24. (CMC)