Gold Cup thriller in making at Santa Rosa

JUST five runners will go to post in the feature $125,000 Guardian Holdings Gold Cup, but still there could be a thrilling finish to this 2000 metres race at Santa Rosa Park, Arima, today, the finale of the 2005 Arima Race Club season. It appears to be a match race for the top prize in the 53rd running of the event between 2003 Triple Crown and Caribbean Stakes $1 million winner Top Of The Class and Horse of the Year 2003 and 2004 Sugar Mike. Until two weeks ago, the six-year-old son of Ponche/No Sugar was being written off by turfites only for them to get a rude awakening in the 1200 metres B Mobile Stewards’ Cup.

The Grant Lourenco “Sugar Dandy” won with authority, benefiting from a superb ride by jockey Jody Arneaud who has the ride again,  and will be going for a hat-trick of wins in the event. And since that trip is regarded as short of the American-bred horse’s best and he will much prefer today’s distance, it should be a race for all to see. On the other hand, the locally-bred Top Of The Class has been in tremendous form throughout the racing season and will carry the hopes of local turfites. He has won five of his last seven starts including the President’s Cup and the Diamond Stakes, and is not only one of the favourites for today’s feature, but also for the Horse of the Year crown. The co-features for the juveniles, the 32nd edition of the Guardian Life St Ann’s Stakes for fillies and Guardian Life  St James Stakes for colts and geldings have outstanding favourites.

First up will be the St Ann’s in which Magnificat will take most turfites money, but this is a race which turns up great surprises and Sky High, Ready Or Not, Fun Time, a double winner early on, and debutante Dudley’s Girl are ready to provide an upset. Not so in the ‘Boys” race, as All For Java has dominated in his four starts to date, and has produced some fabulous times as well and with aspiring jockey champion Wilmer Galviz astride it would be foolhardy to oppose him. Sara’s Music seems clear next best, but Adios Amigos, Jacobite and The Negotiator could fill that runner-up spot.

Apart from the three “big races”, the other seven will test turfites’ knowledge to the limit. Another feature of today’s programme will be the battle between apprentice Joshua Stephan and Venezuelan rider Galviz for the jockeys championship title. Going into today, Galviz holds a slim one-win lead with 45 over the youngster who has 44 and is determined to add the open title to the apprentice crown he already has sewn-up, a feat which will see him as the first-ever to win both titles in the same year. It could well pay  turfites to follow horses ridden by these two, despite the return appearance of Trinidadians Raymond Ganpath (USA) and Richard dos Ramos (Canada), and Barbadians Jonno Jones and Patrick Husbands (Canada) to ride at today’s meet.