The biggest racing day on the local racing calendar–the Guardian Holdings Ltd (GHL) Day at the Races–is all set for Boxing Day. The company has invested a whopping $800,000 into the nine-race card at Santa Rosa Park, Arima. The top trainers have virtually finished their preparation and it is all up to the "Little men" to bring glory to themselves, owners, trainers and grooms.
With champion trainer, Glenn Mendez virtually assured of the trainers' title in earning and most wins, punters and turfites are in for a great day. The Gold Cup which carries a purse of $500,000 looks to be a one horse race, with favourite and Horse of The Year 2008 Storm Street, looking set to cop the $250,000 first prize cheque. With a win in this prestigious event Storm Street could land the leading owner award for the Dachin Racing Stable.
Last year's edition of the Grade One "Stayer's Championship" included the likes of Horse of The Year 2007, Swing By, the 2007 Stewards Cup winner Storm Street, the Roland Khan-owned Hello Yankee and the 2006 Gold Cup winner Straight Ahead, along with Coconut Boy and Personal Encounter. These were the principals in the feature event over 2,000 metres at the centralised venue in 2007.
Three years ago, the Gold Cup was deemed a two-horse war between Sugar Mike and Top of The Class. The creole proved to the the best on the days when cruising home in impressive fashion not only to win the event but to also be named Horse of The Year 2005. In 2006, Straight Ahead under a typical Ricky Jadoo ride made every inch of the running to win eased down by 2 1/2 lengths for young trainer Kenneth De Silva.
This season, the O'Brien-trained Chief Commander has dominated the creole events and took the Independence Cup on the turf in the absence of Storm Street. The seven-year-old Creole does not know how to run a bad race and must be respected. The horse which was expected to give the dual Stewards Cup winner Storm Street most to do was the Harriram Gobin trained/ Merlin Samlalsingh owned Mainframe. He has his problems but is clearly a very talented thoroughbred. The three-year-old has won both his lifetime starts and if he is back to his best could offer the most resistance to Storm Street. Samlalsingh's Mainframe will attempt to emulate Top of The Class performance of 2005.
The "magical" Glenn Mendez who won this race last year with outsider Crown Point has another outsider engaged in the Grade One event. This year Mendez run Windjammer but this one looks a big below the class necessary to win this type of Graded event. The one they will all have to run to beat is the Christopher Prime-trained gelding Storm Street which won the Stewards Cup impressively two weeks ago. The Dachin Racing Stable owned horse is reckoned unbeatable by both trainer Prime and jockey Ricky Jadoo who is celebrating 25 years in the saddle. Last year Storm Street was pegged back close home by Crown Point.
To be honest, Storm Street was going around two turns for the first time in the country but this season has been tremendous form over the extended distance. Storm Street has carried all before him from 1,100 metres to 2,000 metres and Derek Chin could lead in his third Gold Cup winner.
However, the Dachin Racing Stable will have another challenger in Godspell who has been quietly prepared for the event.
Should this horse run up to his best we could see Chin leading in a memorable one-two. Derek Mosca, conditions Straight Ahead, is confident that his charge will give a good account of himself. The gelded son of Straight Man/MS Gripsholm ran a good Gold Cup "prep" when second in his last start, a race way short of its best trip. With Straight Ahead likely to have things its own way at the front, he could run into a place.
