The 2023 racing season kicked off on Saturday (January 28) in front of the anticipated crowd of die-hard local racing turfites.
The feature event, the Sian’s Gold Sprint was fought out by the two horses who did not race from out of the handicap – General JN and Super Bird. Under a superb ride from Dillon Khelawan, the General made virtually all of the running and then fought off the late challenge of Super Bird ridden by 2022 champion jockey, Brian Boodramsingh. These two riders are undoubtedly the best two jockeys in the country at the moment from a tactical perspective and once given enough opportunities, there is little doubt that Khelawan has the skills to seriously challenge for a jockey championship.
Of the other runners in the race, third-placed Cool Cat now looks thoroughly exposed and will always find it difficult against these top two in similarly weighted graded races, while fourth placed Marvel Vigor had some excuses after being tightened up on a couple of occasions between the 600 and 300 metres mark. That being said, he is another who will find it difficult having to race outside of the handicap in similar graded races but will be difficult to beat in any race in which overweight is not required.
The other feature event of the day was the performance of three-year-old filly debutant, Firecracker. This daughter of the highly talented Rocket Wheels blew apart her field in the maiden three-year-old event over 1,100m. This filly owned, like General JN, by Jerry Narace, led from pillar to post and pulled away from her field in the closing 200m to win by a comfortable five lengths.
Trailing in her wake were the runner-up finishers in the St Anns/St James Stakes – Harts Gap, Blinding Lights and Angry Bird. While her dam was not a stout stayer, the quality of the opposition in 2023 is nothing like what her dam faced in her three-year-old season which means that class may be sufficient to see this filly to the top of the three-year-old class. She is one of seven horses with nominations paid at the second stage for the Royal Colours Classic on February 25. The winner of the St Anns/St James, Hello World, is the only real threat to this filly though there is an unraced offspring of champion Headline News, In the Headlines, lurking in the shadows. This runner could be anything but is likely to need its first start against the likes of Firecracker and Hello World.
The Arima Race Club was able to stage a decent seven-race card on the first racing day of the season and it is to be hoped that they are able to build on that day for future race days. If that is to happen, the Club has to find a way to encourage a number of Trinidad owners who have decided to move their stables to Jamaica and Barbados to bring their horses to Trinidad. This will require the Club to improve on its reliability when it comes to payment to owners, the staging of races in which horses have a chance to compete and the overall management of the Club’s affairs. While finance is required for some of the above, transparency and open communication are equally important.
The Club is reportedly trying to dispose of some of its surplus assets and while that may help with the former, once the Club is losing money, any inflows will be temporary and the Club will burn through its cash before long. There are, however, enough successful individuals still involved in the administration of the sport who should bring their experience to bear for its benefit. Hopefully they are and the Club is listening.
Finally, it is not clear if the Club’s relationship with Flow continues and this is something that the Club should clear the air on. Flow has undoubtedly gone backward in terms of its sports coverage which may be a deliberate decision by its management. If it is deliberate, it would represent a huge error in judgement since many subscribers ONLY use cable TV for sports programming. There are alternatives available to the Club, including its live streaming – the reliability of which needs to be improved however. The sport does need terrestrial coverage and as such, the Club is encouraged to do what it can to preserve some sort of TV presence.