Train­er Harold Chadee was in­deed a very hap­py man last Sat­ur­day when his Ja­maican-bred colt Re­gal In­ten­sion proved favourite backer right when he won the fea­ture event over 1,350 me­tres at San­ta Rosa Park, Ari­ma.

Pun­ters made the horse the even-mon­ey favourite in the fea­ture Mod­i­fied Bench­mark Hand­i­cap for Three-Year-Old Hors­es and end­ed the hat­trick bid of the Glenn Mendez trained Leonar­do An­gel with vic­to­ry by just a head.

Re­spect­ed as one of the to con­di­tion­er in the lo­cal sport, Chadee, who sad­dled Re­gal In­ten­sion to win the first jew­el of lo­cals Rac­ing 'Triple Crown,' the Guineas, last sea­son, again demon­strat­ed that he can got the job done.

The Chadee trained four-year-old re­turned to win­ning ways when he start­ed tardi­ly but showed his un­doubt­ed class to catch and beat Leonar­do An­gel in a thrilling fin­ish.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia Sports on Sun­day, Chadee said, " When he won the Guineas last year he was fine but he en­coun­tered some is­sues be­fore the Mid­sum­mer Clas­sic when he fin­ished fourth and that con­tin­ued go­ing in­to the Der­by. Be­cause of the close­ness of the event we could not get him right. How­ev­er, we have solved the prob­lem and he has been work­ing well in prepa­ra­tion for this race. Three races back be­fore this I did not think that he would lose but I was dis­ap­point­ed with the ride by the jock­ey Ki­mal San­to that day. The ride was sus­pi­cious. Re­gal In­ten­sion was too far off the pace. I know that Reg­gae Rhythm can­not beat Re­gal In­ten­sion from 100 me­tres to 1800 me­tres and to lose that race clos­ing so fast, I was re­al­ly dis­ap­point­ed. Yes­ter­day we gave Reg­gae Rhythm weight and a beat­ing."

In the lead up to this race, he gal­loped well and I was con­fi­dent that he would win. He did not start well but soon made up the lost ground and though pressed by Leonar­do An­gel he fin­ished strong­ly and will win many races go­ing over longer dis­tances. He was full of praise for rid­er Ri­co Her­nan­dez who he said rode to in­struc­tion. Chadee stat­ed," He did not break alert­ly but he swift­ly made up the ground and was trav­el­ling well at the far turn and by the 500 me­tres mark­er was ready to take over. Once in line for home, Her­nan­dez asked him for his ef­fort and he ran on strong­ly to re­pel the chal­lenge and beat Mendez Leonar­do An­gel. This was in­deed a great run and he came from last to first, again."

"There has not been two-turn races for him, so we have to race over short­er and we pre­pared for it and was suc­cess­ful. The sta­ble is do­ing very well and I ex­pect that this trend will con­tin­ue."

This win gave Chadee his 15th win­ner for the 2020 rac­ing sea­son and placed him on­ly two be­hind cham­pi­on train­er John O'Brien.

How­ev­er, there was some­thing good to take away from the vic­to­ry of Re­gal In­ten­sion as Chadee stat­ed, " This race alone is what can bring own­er back to rac­ing. It is races like these where two good hors­es are locked in a bat­tle to the line and two good jock­eys are rid­ing for all their worth, is what rac­ing is about. Pun­ters and tur­fites alike want to see good hors­es and good jock­ey­ship,' he end­ed.