After witnessing the first two legs of the US Triple Crown, the first leg of the T&T Triple Crown will take place on Monday.
While only six horses have paid the final subscriptions and at least one of them will probably be better placed in a maiden event, it can only be hoped that the authorities do not decide to cancel the race if it ends up with less than five horses.
The six horses for which final subscriptions have been paid are maidens Color of Sacrifice and Magical World and winners, Crown Point, Princess Aruna, Soca Harmony and Top of the Game.
Four of the six are trained by John O’Brien and the inclusion of Magical World, a fairly poor maiden who has shown only a modicum of ability (and on the turf) suggests that trainer O’Brien is very conscious of the risk of the race being cancelled due to insufficient entries.
Magical World can be safely ignored. The other maiden is the unraced Color of Sacrifice.
This daughter of Da Vince was expected to make her debut on the last raceday but was a late scratch. Hard to know what to make of his chances, but his dam Sweet Genius was much better on the turf and he was unfancied for his debut.
Of the other four, each are multiple winners though Princess Aruna has shown her best form on the turf and is unlikely to be a major threat.
The four all contested the Royal Colours Classic on April 18 when Crown Prince was a comfortable eighth-length winner from Soca Harmony with Top of the Game fourth and Princess Aruna unplaced.
Soca Harmony came back on the following race day and was a beaten favourite when only second again while Top of the Game came back to score comfortably but against a lower class.
It is very difficult to envisage either of those three troubling Crown Prince unless something has gone dramatically wrong with that one’s preparation for the Guineas. In the expectation that this is unlikely to the case, the unbeaten Crown Prince is likely to be an overwhelming favourite and comfortable winner of the Guineas.
Hopefully, the other two legs of the Triple Crown will be more competitive.
One of the surprising features of the 2022 racing season so far has been the top class riding of the veteran jockey Ricky Jadoo.
After nine days of the season, Jadoo leads perennial champion Brian Boodramsingh by four wins.
While Boodramsingh continues to be provided with winners by his main stable, the O’Brien stable, Jadoo has been having his winners for numerous trainers including his main supporter Glenn Mendez but also Michael Lutchman, Shaffique Khan and others.
The success of Ricky Jadoo should serve as an inspiration for many of the younger riders in the country since his dedication and hard work are legendary with Jadoo still getting up early in the morning from his home in South Trinidad to reach the racetrack in Arima by 5 am on most days.
This dedication and commitment to his fitness have been hallmarks of Jadoo’s career and it will be a sad day for the sport in the country when he decides to hang up his boots.
At the same time, it was disappointing to read that promising young rider Kimal Santo may have decided to migrate to Canada to ply his trade.
Santo was one of the more promising young riders in the country and we wish him all the best in his endeavours in Canada.
On the training front, perennial champion O’Brien continues to lead the way but his dominance is not as clear as in past years.
Lutchman and Mendez are both within a few winners of the leader at this stage of the season. Given the number of horses in his stable, it is unlikely that his dominance will be seriously threatened this year unless there is an unraced top class three-year-old out there.
Krishna Sahadeo who was the principal trainer for Shivam Maharaj following the untimely passing of Harriram Gobin has seemingly relinquished that role to Ramesh Ramroop, at least based on the trainers of record for the entries on day nine.
It will be interesting to see if this is a temporary development or something more permanent.