GLENEAGLE Stakes winner Sweet Tempo was one of few horses out on the gallops at Santa Rosa Park, Arima, yesterday morning.

The Glenn Mendez-trained filly, a winner on the Indian Arrival Day programme, was seen pacing over 800 metres clocking 56 seconds flat. But the best gallop came from Squeezed Moment, winner of the opener on Arrival Day. Also trained by Mendez, the Freshly Squeezed/LadyOf The Moment four-year-old stepped lively over 600 metres in the good time of 37.3 seconds. Most trainers took things easy after some scorching gallops on Sunday, and are expected to step up preparations for the June 20 Labour Day 10-race card, at which the CLICO Mid-Summer Classic over 1900 metres for three-year-olds, the second jewel of the local triple crown will be in the spotlight. Sweet Tempo is being pointed for this event which carries a purse of $125,000. Other good gallops came from Cheerleader and Lazar Wolf who both were timed in 38.2 seconds for a 600 metres spin. But convincing 12-length Easter Guineas winner Top Of The Class, another from the Mendez barn who also has the CLICO Midsummer Classic as his goal, galloped steadily over 1200 metres in 1:28.7 seconds.

Here are the gallops recorded yesterday: 400 METRES — Phantom Bidder — 29.9; Sunny —  29.9.
600 METRES — Cheerleader — 38.2; Lazar Wolf — 38.2; Outburst —  44.1; Squeezed Moment — 37.3; Super Grey — 43.9.
800 METRES — Champagne Wager — 59.9; Loud Music — 59.9; Sweet Tempo  — 56.0.
1000 METRES — Travel Agent — 1:14.9.
1200 METRES — Top of the Class — 1:28.7.
1400 METRES — Panama Canal —1:43.5.

CHRISTO CAVE is within touching distance of re-capturing the national chess title as the New India Assurance National Cham-pionship draws to a close.

Cave, who won his 11th national crown in 2001 when he had a clean sweep of victories in the round-robin tournament, can claim his 12th in 14 years, and the Prime Minister Challenge Trophy, if he can draw at least one of his two remaining matches this weekend. At the Conference room of the Student Activity Centre, on the UWI, St Augustine Campus, Cave knocked off Kirby Hope and Jerome Joseph last weekend.

Defending champ, FIDE Master Ryan Harper, whipped Joffery Marcelle and FIDE Master Frank Yee to remain in contention. Arlene Blackman, principal of the Blackman’s Private Primary School, was upset by Camille Chung on Saturday. But Blackman rebounded to defeat Sinead Furlong the following day. Furlong is joined at the top of the women’s division by Aditi Soondarsingh, who defeated Ramya Chintapatty and drew against Furlong over the weekend. And reigning champ Cesar Ramos and Newsday’s Editorial Consultant Carl Jacobs are in a neck-and-neck tussle in the men’s veterans category.

National Championship Results –
Round 8 (Saturday) —- C Cave def K Hope; R Harper def M Marcelle; F Yee draw with R Singh; A Bowles draw L Duncan; C Lee draw with M Merritt; J Raphael draw with J Joseph.
Round 9 (Sunday) —- C Cave def J Joseph; R Harper def F Yee; C Lee draw with L Duncan; J Raphael draw with M Merritt; R Singh draw with A Bowles; K.Hope draw with J Marcelle.

STANDINGS
Men’s Division:
	P	W	D	L	Pts
Christo Cave	9	9	0	0	9
Ryan Harper	9	6	2	1	7
Cecil.Lee	9	2	6	1	5
Ravishen Singh	9	3	3	3	4.5
Mario Merritt	9	3	3	3	4.5
Lenard Duncan	9	3	3	3	4.5
Joffery Marcelle	9	2	4	3	4
Frank Yee	9	2	4	3	4
Jerome Joseph	9	2	4	3	4
John Raphael	9	1	5	3	3.5
Andrew Bowles	9	1	4	4	3
Kirby Hope	9	0	2	7	1
Women’s Division:
	P	W	D	L	Pts
Aditi Soondarsingh	4	2	1	1	2.5
Sinead Furlong	4	2	1	1	2.5
Arlene Blackman	3	2	0	1	2
Magarette Thairu	4	2	1	1	2
Camille Chung	3	1	1	1	1.5
Malini Srinivasan	3	1	0	2	1
Ramya Chintapatty	3	0	0	3	0
Veterans’ Division:
	P	W	D	L	Pts
Cesar Ramos	5	5	0	0	5
Carl Jacobs	5	4	1	0	4.5
Prakash Persad	5	3	0	2	3
Allan Chung	5	3	0	2	3
Anthony Sylvester	5	2	0	3	2
Colin Knight	5	1	1	3	1.5
David Maynard	5	1	0	4	1
Patrick Prescott	5	0	0	5	0

MONTROSE APS Vedic “A” team of Chaguanas and St Andrew’s School in Maraval emerged joint title-holders in the first annual Primary Schools Chess Championships held at the Students’ Activity Centre, UWI, St Augustine, recently.

Under a five-round Swiss format, the nine competing teams were involved in a day of tough battles and sturdy concentration on the boards. Montrose “A” team and St Andrew’s finished the contest locked at the top with 14.5 points and both were declared joint champs after a tie-break failed to separate the two. Gold medals were also distributed to chessists who won all five matches on each board. Justin Salloum of St Andrew’s took the prize on Board No 1, Zane Campbell of St Monica’s Preparatory, Port-of-Spain for Board No 2, Prithvi Ramakrishnan of the Combined Primary team for Board No 3 and Arya Vrat Walia of Montrose “A” team for Board No 4. Other participating schools included Blackman’s Private School, of Maraval, and Sacred Heart Boys’ RC, of Port-of-Spain, who both fielded two teams each, St Monica’s Preparatory of Port-of-Spain and a Combined Primary team featuring students from the International School, Bishop Anstey Junior School, Holy Name Prepatory and Newtown Boys’ RC.

Full Results
1. Montrose APS Vedic “A” and St Andrew’s 14.5 pts; 3. St Monica’s Preparatory 14 pts; 4. Combined Primary 13.5 pts; 5. Blackman’s Private School ‘A’ 10.5 pts; 6. Sacred Heart Boys’ “A” 9.5 pts; 7. Blackman’s Private School ‘B’ 9 pts; 8. Sacred Heart Boys’ ‘B’ 7.5 pts; 9. Montrose APS Vedic ‘B’ 7 pts.

Promenade Tennis Club will take on Petrotrin Penal in the Tennis Association of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) South Zone Inter-Club “B” Division semi-final encounter, tomorrow at the Promenade Tennis court from 4.30 pm.

There will also be keen competition in the other semi-final, which will be staged at the Skinner Park courts tomorrow. Home-based team San Fernando Tennis Club clash with Petrotrin Staff Club. Former national singles champion and Davis Cup player Brian Khan and former national doubles champion Jonathan Charles will spearhead the Petrotrin Staff Club in their quest for a place in the final. But they will not have an easy passage and will be sternly tested by Curtis Hinds, Darryl Yarde, Anthony Cook and Peter Moore. The Promenade “B” Team showed remarkable improvement when they edged out the experienced Petrotrin Staff Club by a 3-2 margin to get into the “semis.” The biggest upset was recorded by the Jarred Phillip and Peter Hosein tandem, which surprisingly got the better of father/son combination of Harris Khan and Brian Khan by a 6-2 margin. The Khans were also on the losing side again when Ian Henry and Clifton Whitehead registered a similar scoreline. Ramesh Ramdhan clinched the tie for the Promenade outfit when Colin Piper defaulted with their match tied at 1-1. Piper was unable to continue because of injury.

The “Oil Boys” were saved by the Charles brothers —- Jonathan and Jeremy (overseas-based) who together got the better of Ian Henry and Clifton Whitehead at 6-4 and Jarred Phillip and Peter Hosein, also at a 6-4 scoreline. The star-studded Promenade Tennis Club “A” team clinched the “A” Division title by virtue of a walkover from the San Fernando Tennis Club. Former national Under-18 champion and 2003 Davis Cup player Dexter Mahase, former Davis Cup player Randy Hakim, Ravi Deonarine (Davis Cup team member), south’s perennial clay court champion Harry Mahase, current national veteran champion Dipnarine Rampersad and Selwyn Hakim comprised the powerful Promenade TC “A” team which scared away their opponents and gave them an easy passage to the national play-offs. Meanwhile, the Division “C” semi-finals will be contested today from 4.30 pm. San Fernando Tennis Club will host Petrotrin P-a-P at Skinner Park while Petrotrin Penal will do likewise in their clash with the Point Fortin Civic Centre team at Penal.

DOUBLE TROUBLE have won the 20-over Limited Overs Night Cricket Tournament in the South Caroni Constituency run on the grounds opposite the Couva Health Facility.

Placing second was Drillers with Basta Hall filling the third spot. In the finals played over the weekend, Double Trouble batted first and made 83 runs with Ryan Sieuchand topscoring with 21 runs. Russel Wiliams bagged three for 12 for Drillers. Drillers ran into difficulty in getting the total losing nine wickets in scoring 73 runs with Ryan Sieuchand being the  best Double Trouble bowler claiming three  wickets for three runs. At the prize distribution function which followed, Double Trouble collected $1,500 and a challenge trophy from Kelvin Ramnath, MP for Couva South. Drillers received $800 while Basta Hall got $400. Next year MP Ramnath promised $5,000 as the first prize.

MORVANT/LAVENTILLE Secondary had a busy week but came through with a hat-trick of victories in the RBTT Trophy series in the NLCB-sponsored Francis Rivas Schoolgirls Windball Cricket League.

First the Morvant/Laventille girls whipped St. Jude’s by 50 runs, then they crushed St. Joseph’s Convent (PoS) by eight wickets and later romped past Bishop Anstey by 57 runs. Candice Bailey topscored with 26 runs and Kimberly Reyes added 20 to the Morvant/Laventille total of 110 for seven wickets in their 15 overs against St. Judes who were routed for 60. Kimberly Cumberbatch took five wickets for five runs and Candace La Borde two for six. Bailey was again the main destroyer taking five for 10 when St  Joseph’s managed just 43 to which Morvant/Laventille replied with 47 for three wickets, with Reyes scoring 21. And Bailey led the scorers with 28 runs in the Morvant/Laventille total of 92, then Cumberbatch grabbed three wickets for four runs, Amika Corridon, two for four, and Candice La Borde, two for 10, as Bishop Anstey were bundled out for 35.

Summarised scores:
MORVANT/LAVENTILLE 110/7 (15 overs) —- C. Bailey 26, K. Reyes 20, A. Norton 2/16 vs ST. JUDE’S 60 (9.2 OVERS) —- K. Cumberbatch 5/5, C. La Borde 2/6.
ST. JOSEPH’S CONVENT (P-o-S) 43 (11.2 overs) —- Ayanna Ferret 14, C. Bailey 5/10, K. Cumberbatch 2/11, A. Corridon 2/5 vs MORVANT/LAVENTILLE 47/2 (10.1 overs) —- K. Reyes 21.
MORVANT/LAVENTILLE 92 (13.1 overs) —- C. Bailey 28, C. Murray 3/11, L. Edwards 2/12 vs BIOSHOP ANSTEY 35 (8.3 overs) —- K. Cumberbatch 3/4, A. Corridon 2/4, C. La Borde 2/10.

KINGSTOWN: West Indies cricket fans in Barbados could hardly believe their eyes as their team allowed Sri Lanka to score 315 for victory last Sunday.  After a breath-taking century by skipper Brian Lara, the home side should have been capable of levelling the series at 1-1. But poor bowling and fielding has left them facing a dead rubber and question marks over their temperament.

“We seem to be wanting under pressure” was Lara’s assessment. “We put down a couple of chances in the closing overs and that cost us the match. We have to learn from our mistakes,” he said. Now the task for West Indies is to restore confidence ahead of the two Test matches. But the task of trying to prevent a 3-0 whitewash in the one-dayers has not been made any easier by the decision to leave new ball bowler Merv Dillon out of the squad.  The selectors have called up 18-year-old Jerome Taylor as his replacement, a player with only one senior appearance in domestic one-day cricket behind him.  It may be, however, that Daren Powell is the more likely replacement in the final eleven.

He has been biding his time since four Test appearances and a single One-Day International last year and is overdue another chance.  Sri Lanka have, perhaps, exceeded their own expectations, having had only one warm-up match at the start of the tour after batting badly in a recent triangular series against New Zealand and Pakistan.  Marvan Atapattu’s decision to drop to number three and reinstate Romesh Kaluwitharana at the top of the order has paid off.   And winning the series has taken some of the pressure off Atapattu, who is still finding his feet as captain after Sanath Jayasuriya’s decision to give up the job. “We live in a nation where cricket is almost a religion. Expectations are always high, especially with the batting,” he said. “I was under a bit of pressure before I came here and I was trying not to pass this on to the others. But hopefully this will get easier now.” The key innings in the second innings was played by Upul Chandana, who flogged 89 off 71 balls and Atapattu is not about to tell his players to rein themselves in. “It is best to let the batsmen play their natural game.  “The last match was satisfying, but I won’t be walking six inches off the ground saying our batting has clicked or anything like that. I’m looking for consistency.”

West Indies (from): Brian Lara (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Marlon Samuels, Ricardo Powell, Omari Banks, Vasbert Drakes, Ridley Jacobs, Corey Collymore, David Bernard, Wavell Hinds, Ryan Hurley, Daren Powell and Jerome Taylor.
Sri Lanka (from): Squad: Marvan Atapattu (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene (vice-captain), Romesh Kaluwitharana, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Naveed Nawaz, Upul Chandana, Chaminda Vaas, Dharshana Gamage, Prabath Nissanka, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Kumar Dharmasena, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Dinusha Fernando.