John O’Brien will at­tack next week’s fea­ture event, the Grade Two (Re­strict­ed) Caribbean Cham­pi­on Stakes over 1,800 me­tres, with three en­trants Apoc­a­lypse, Gen­er­al JN and Mak­ing Head­lines.

Apoc­a­lypse ran a blind­er be­hind Juice Man in the Mid­sum­mer Clas­sic, then he came back to give Juice Man a scare in the Trinidad Der­by last time out. O’Brien will no doubt be ex­pect­ing him to move for­ward once again, in what will be an in­trigu­ing con­test come Sat­ur­day (Oc­to­ber 26).

Be that as it may, Apoc­a­lypse will give the three prin­ci­pals some­thing to do.

Pride of place must be giv­en to the un­beat­en Glenn Mendez-trained three-year-old Juice Man, who is un­beat­en in four starts in this coun­try. The Ja­maican-bred colt has won both the Mid­sum­mer Clas­sic and the Der­by and with an­oth­er win in the Cham­pi­on Stakes could well be vot­ed the ‘Horse Of The Year’ 2019. Cham­pi­on train­er Mendez and cham­pi­on jock­ey Ricky Jadoo will fan­cy their chances in this event, as they will get an al­lowance from the old­er hors­es.

The high­ly-an­tic­i­pat­ed clash be­tween the two top race­hors­es in the coun­try this year looks like­ly on the cards in the Caribbean Cham­pi­on Stakes.

The event has at­tract­ed nine en­trants and could be one of the best edi­tion of this event in many years. The race could prove bet­ter than the two ti­tan­ic clash­es of the past when Sian’s Gold met Van­dross and the nev­er to be for­got­ten clash­es be­tween Bruceon­th­eloose and Cac­tus Amour. It must be not­ed that the train­er of Bruceon­th­eloose was John O’Brien while the train­er of Cac­tus Amour was none oth­er than cham­pi­on train­er Mendez.

Juice Man has been well pre­pared to win four races on the trot and Mendez has now sad­dled two hors­es who have won the fi­nal two legs of the Triple Crown for the past two years. In 2018, he sad­dled Cape Canaver­al to vic­to­ry in the Mid­sum­mer Clas­sic and Der­by and in 2019 he again proved his class, sad­dling Juice Man to do the dou­ble.

Juice Man has now run the fastest time in the Der­by since Top of The Class in 2003 and must be one race fans would want to see the best of.

On the oth­er hand, Gen­er­al JN has im­proved dra­mat­i­cal­ly since his dis­ap­point­ing Der­by Run in 2018 when he was in­jured. That in­jury has since bee cor­rect­ed and af­ter eight months off the track, he has come back to win four races in great style. Last time out in the Di­a­mond Stakes on Re­pub­lic Day, Gen­er­al JN beat the best hors­es in the coun­try over 1,350 me­tres. On that oc­ca­sion, he was rid­den with re­straint and quick­ened well and stayed on strong­ly to stop Mas­ter of War, Thisones­for­ron and Nu­clear Pow­er, who was suc­cess­ful last week.

Mas­ter of War, from the Har­ri­ram Gob­in sta­ble, must be re­spect­ed af­ter his big run last time out be­hind Gen­er­al JN. He has been laid out for this.

This will in­deed be an in­trigu­ing con­test and race fans, pun­ters and tur­fites alike will be com­ing to see which thor­ough­bred will be seen as the best in train­ing.

Caribbean Cham­pi­on Stakes (GR-II R) 1,800m. Open to WI-bred 3 yo & over (Oct 26)

En­trants: Apoc­a­lypse (J’ca), Cae­sar Coun­try, Gen­er­al JN (J’ca), Juice Man (J’ca), Mak­ing Head­lines, Mas­ter of War (J’ca), Re­gal In­ten­sion (J’ca), Streak­ing Far, Val­or­ous (J’ca).