Meagre Reggae 6 payout as favourites have field day

RIDGE LINER winning Saturday’s third event at odds of 3-1 was the only blip on the Reggae 6 radar, resulting in a $4,328 payout influenced by five winning favourites, two from the barn of champion trainer Jason DaCosta with leading rider Tevin Foster aboard.

DaCosta, who started the afternoon with an $18m stakes lead over Anthony Nunes atop the trainers’ standings, unassailable unless his rival wins December’s US$300,000 Mouttet Mile and other rich events along the way, combined with Foster for victories with American import BIRTHDAY KING in the second and RUNAWAY STAR at four furlongs straight in the fifth.

BIRTHDAY KING wore down Nunes’ local-bred, SOORYAVANSHI in the Princess Popstar for two-year-olds at five and a half furlongs as the overwhelming 1-5 favourite.

Late rally

RUNAWAY STAR, who had decked Foster shortly after the start on September 27, returning off a 16-month break as a 1-5 favourite, rallied late to win the fifth as an even-money favourite, handing the leading rider his second winner of the day, keeping him 10 clear of back-to-back defending champion Raddesh Roman, who also landed a two-timer.

Roman won the fourth astride Peter-John Parsard’s 4-5 favourite FEELING FREE at five furlongs straight, returning to close the nine-race card astride Oral Hayden’s SONNY T AND CHIPPY, who turned tables on D HEAD CORNERSTONE after back-to-back losses in July and September.

Meanwhile, LOCKDOWN stunned sprinters in the Nigel B Nunes Memorial Cup, scoring a 75-1 upset from the dreaded post-position one at five furlongs straight, his first attempt at the overnight-allowance level, turning tables on rivals who had beaten him up to a month ago.

Shunned in the betting, four-year-old LOCKDOWN was not only racing outside his preferred middle-distance sweet spot after beating non-winners of four races at a mile on September 19, but the Ryan Darby-trained colt skipped non-winners of an overnight allowance to face previous winners at the level such as 4-5 favourite MONEY MARKET.

Interferences

Always prominent on the far side, Paul Francis urged LOCKDOWN to tackle rail-running COMMANDER Z approaching the furlong pole before blasting past the United States-bred five-year-old, who twice factored in interferences caused to MONEY MARKET, herding which cost the hot favourite what would have been a sure win.

MONEY MARKET was first squeezed at the start between fractious JOHNCROWJEFF bearing left and COMMANDER Z veering right. Shortly after the first infringement, MONEY MARKET was almost hauled up by Dane Dawkins when STARRAURA crossed his path, herding him between COMMANDER Z.

With the race thrown wide open, MONEY MARKET recovered to challenge for the lead entering the main track, but the effort took its toll inside the last furlong, while COMMANDER Z tried stealing home along the rail after fighting off Jason DaCosta’s pair of STARRAURA and FORMALIST.

Travelling with not much urging from Francis, tapping the colt almost casually with back-handed whipping, LOCKDOWN surged forward and responded rapidly to one full stroke of the whip to zip past COMMANDER Z, winning the photo by a head from horses spread across the track, JOHNCROWJEFF and GET A PEPSI, also outsiders at 28-1 and 13-1, respectively.

The LOCKDOWN-JOHNCROWJEFF exacta returned $76,882, overshadowed by the quinella, which paid a grand $384,760. The trifecta, LOCKDOWN-JOHNCROWJEFF-GET A PEPSI, paid a whopping $542,008.

LOCKDOWN’s stunner resulted in an astronomical Twilight 6 payout of $5,307,775, from a $2,160 stake.

LOCKDOWN’s upset also left its imprint on the Placepot 8, for which there was no winner, sending a carryover of $539,198.56 to next Saturday, the start of the three-day Heroes Carnival meet, which features mandatory payouts of the Five Star and Reggae 6 on Sunday and Monday.