Sugar Mike on ‘Diamond’ course

Sugar Mike and the seven runners who took entry on Monday for the Diamond Stakes Handicap have stood their ground to compete in the Arima Race Club Day 29 highlight at Santa Rosa Park, Arima on Saturday. The “Horse of the Year” whose Royal Purple and Scarlet colours were lowered on the grass in the Sagicor Independence Cup last month, will make  a return to the sand course in the Grade 11 event worth $75,000 on the nine-race card. The five-year-old son of  Ponche/No Sugar has been given the reponsibility of shouldering 60.5 kilos on his back in his attempt at back-to-back victories in the 1350 metres contest. Listed to oppose the Grant Lourenco-trained colt on his favoured surface where he tasted defeat only once from 12 starts are stablemates Invincibility and Twice Infallible. Also among the opposition in Saturday’s showpiece are last year’s triple crown winner Top Of The Class, the speedster Dauntless Hero, and Miss Lover Lover, surprise winner of the Independence Cup.

The Restricted Handicap, which will act as the supporting feature on the programme has a field of 12 set to go to post. Pauls’s First and Pure Delight, which had been eyeing the 1600 metres Turf event on Monday have diviated and have chosen instead to contest separate events on the main course. Paula’s First will try to send in her maiden certificate in 1100 metres dash for imported two-year-olds and over horses, while connections of Pure Delight have decided to tackle the bunch of West Indian bred three-year-olds which have not won two races over the 1350 metres trip. The West Indian bred juvenile event framed for the card failed to meet minimum entry requirements and was cancelled. But the nine which got approval attracted a healthy 88 runners.

Following are the framed races, entries, weights and jockeys for the entire card.

RACE 1: (12.50 pm) W I BRED 4 Y.O & OVER NON-WINNERS OF FIVE RACES - PURSE $20,000 - 1100 METRES (TURF).
1. Hatrick - 53.5 - B.Harding, 2. Bajan Connection - 54.5 - L.Keizer, 3. The Chairman - 54.5 - R.Jadoo, 4. Poetry (T.O) - 50.5 - R.Rajkumar, 5. Tricky Guy (T.O) - 52.5 - J.Stephen, 6. Full Of Promises - 51.5 - C.Marquez, 7. Reign Of Fire - 53.5 - W.Galviz.

RACE 2: (1.26 pm) IMPORTED 2 Y.O & OVER MAIDENS - PURSE $21,000 - 1100 METRES.
1. Sky Storm Rising - 51.5 - F.Razack, 2. Stonebright - 56.5 - J.Arneaud, 3. Kavita Nadira - 51.5 - K.Bissoon, 4. Life In The Sky - 55.5 - S.Rodrigo, 5. Pauls’ First - 45.5 - L.Keizer, 6. Miss Julie - 54.5 - C.Marquez, 7. Twice The Jet - 53.5 - B.Harding, 8. Dinner Silence - 48.5 - R.Jadoo.

RACE 3: (2.02 pm) 3 Y.O & OVER OPTIONAL CLAIMING ($10,500 - $8,500) - PURSE $18,000 - 1200 METRES.
1. Hundred Percent - 56.5 - K.Bissoon, 2. Politics - 53.5 - C.Jadoo, 3. Renaissance Man - 56.5 - N.Abrego, 4. Tora Bora - 55.5 - B.Harding, 5. Hyarima - 56.5 - R.Ramirez, 6. Champagne Wager - 50.5 - R.Mangalee, 7. Lovely Pearl - 49.5 - S.Rodrigo, 8. Native Love - 54.5 - L.Keizer.
RACE 4: (2.38 pm) W I BRED 3 Y.O MAIDENS - PURSE $22,000 - 1600 METRES (TURF).
1. Joint Account - 52.5 - B.Harding, 2. Philadelphian - 54.5 - S.Rodrigo, 3. Somebody - 52.5 - H.Emamalie, 4. Crachshot (T.O) - 55.5 - J.Arneaud, 5. Ice Follies - 53.5 - S.Rodrigo, 6. Rocket Booster - 44.5 - R.Badal, 7. Perfect Gem - 52.5 - K.Chandler, 8. Massoud - 56.5 - K.Bissoon, 9. Deadsure - 44.5 - W.Galviz, 10. Romantic Dancing - 50.5 - L.Keizer.

RACE 5: (3.14 pm) 3 Y.O & OVER OPTIONAL CLAIMING ($7,500 - $6,500) - PURSE $17,000 - 1100 METRES.
1. Erin Dancer - 43.5 - D.Gaff, 2. Game Hugh - 55.5 - N.Abrego, 3. Vaqueiro - 43.5 - L.Keizer, 4. Redoubled - 53.5 - W.Galviz, 5. A Firm Relief - 51.5 - R.Jadoo, 6. Never Ever Worrie - 53.5 - H.Emamalie, 7. Copy Cat - 56.5 - K.Bissoon, 8. Tea Time Doc - 56.5 - J.Stephen, 9. Winning Trick - 54.5 - S.Rodrigo.

RACE 6: (3.51 pm) RESTRICTED HANDICAP - PURSE $21,000 - 1600 METRES (TURF).
1. Carnival Messiah - 57.5 - C.Jadoo, 2. Golden Honour - 51.5 - S.Rodrigo, 3. Sure Ting - 51.5 - F.Razack, 4. Punto A Punto - 51.5 - W.Galviz, 5. City Of Lights - 39.0 - R.Thomas, 6. Sure Wager - 51.2 - R.Jadoo, 7. Piece Of Cake - 48.5 - H.Emamalie, 8. Squee Zintru (M.O) - 46.5 - R.Rajkumar, 9. Living In Hope (T.O) - 53.5 - R.Rajkumar, 10. Kalyan - 50.0 - J.Stephen, 11. Life In Russia - 48.5 - L.Keizer, 12. Super Grey - 55.5 - B.Harding.

Race 7: (4.29 pm) W I BRED 3 Y.O NON-WINNERS OF TWO RACES - PURSE $18,000 - 1350 METRES.
1. Jay Low - 51.5 - R.Ragoonath, 2. Speed - 51.5 - W.Galviz, 3. Pure Delight - 53.5 - S.Rodrigo, 4. Music Man - 52.5 - J.Arneaud, 5. Karzai - 53.5 - C.Jadoo, 6. Sweet N’ Beautiful - 51.5 - L.Keizer, 7. Sunday Jewel - 51.5 - K.Bissoon, 8. Nobleman - 53.5 - H.Emamalie, 9. Chief Commander - 54.5 - N.Abrego, 10. Final Set - 54.5 - R.Jadoo, 11. Traviata - 51.5 - J.Stephen, 12. Chief Of Staff - 53.5 - F.Razack, 13. 2Sharp - 54.5 - R.Ramirez, 14. Sou Sou Moni - 50.5 - D.Gaff.

RACE 8 : (5.05 pm) DIAMOND STAKES (GRADE 11) HANDICAP (OPEN) - PURSE $75,000 - 1350 METRES.
1. Sugar Mike - 60.5 - B.Harding, 2. Movietowne Magic - 40.5 - S.Rodrigo, 3. Outswinger - 45.5 - R.Jadoo, 4. Top Of The Class - 46.0 - W.Galviz, 5. Invincibility - 52.5 - H.Emamalie, 6. Miss Lover Lover - 51.0 - R.Rajkumar, 7. Twice Infallible - 47.5 - L.Keizer, 8. Dauntless Hero - 46.0 - J.Arneaud.

RACE 9: (5.35 pm) 3 Y.O & OVER OPTIONAL CLAIMING ($14,000 - $11,000) - PURSE $19,000 - 1750 METRES.
1. Dunsborough - 56.5 - R.Rakumar, 2. Entertainer - 45.5 - J.Stephen, 3. Creme Caramel - 54.5 - L.Keizer, 4. Cornerstone - 48.5 - R.Jadoo, 5. Balthazar - 53.5 - W.Galviz, 6. Bound To Dot Com - 56.5 - C.Jadoo, 7. Joan Of Arc - 54.5 - J.Stephen, 8. New Star - 51.5 - F.Razack, 9. Groomsman - 52.5 - N.Abrego, 10. Indian Decision - 50.5 - S.Rodrigo.