The cham­pi­on ju­ve­nile of 2023 Head­lines came to San­ta Rosa Park as the 2-5 favourite for the biggest race in the three-year-old Triple Crown—the Na­tion­al Lot­ter­ies Con­trol Board (NL­CB) Trinidad Der­by over 2,000 me­tres at San­ta Rosa Park in Ari­ma Tues­day (Sep­tem­ber 24). He du­ly won the most pres­ti­gious event of the Triple Crown Se­ries.

Pun­ters and tur­fites made the fil­ly Head­lines Again, who was hav­ing her sec­ond start for the year, the favourite with sta­ble­mate For­ev­er Grand well sup­port­ed at 9-5 in the bet­ting, and the third, John O’Brien-trained horse Un­cle Rog, third in the bet­ting at 5-1.

The Re­pub­lic Day six-race card at­tract­ed the biggest crowd of pun­ters and tur­fites who jour­neyed to the cen­tralised fa­cil­i­ty; the race was worth watch­ing.

When the crowd heard the song Char­i­ots of Fire be­ing played, a loud roar was heard as the hors­es moved from the pa­rade ring to the track. 

The sev­en three-year-olds were well set to bat­tle for the $67,500 first prize cheque, and train­er O’Brien got the first ac­co­lade when Head­lines Again was named the “Best Turned Out Horse” for three-year-olds over 2,000 me­tres. 

When the starter sent the sev­en-horse field on their way, a loud roar was heard when Dil­lon Khel­wan had the favourite Head­lines Again at the head of the af­fair. How­ev­er, he was close­ly at­tend­ed to by Hot Rod Kash­ton, and the Mid­sum­mer took sec­ond place. Un­be­liev­able, with Se­cret Pages track­ing in fourth with Un­cle Rog fol­lowed with For­ev­er Grand wait­ed with and Cap­i­tal Tee trail­ing.

Go­ing down the back straight, Un­be­liev­able took over from the smooth trav­el­ling Head­lines Again as Hot Rod Kash­ton as Bal­go­b­in asked Se­cret Pages to take clos­er or­der. For­ev­er Grand be­gan to close the gap and got him­self clos­er to the pace­set­ters.

At the far turn, the com­plex­ion of the race changed as Khelawan gave Head­lines Again an inch of rein, and she quick­ly opened a four-length gap on Se­cret Pages and Un­be­liev­able as For­ev­er Grand moved in­to third as Hot Rod Kash­ton con­tin­ued his gal­lop, as Un­cle Rog dropped out of the race. It was clear from 500 me­tres out that O’Brien was go­ing to win his fifth straight Der­by.

Com­ing to the cor­ner, Khelawan, who was seek­ing his first Der­by Suc­cess, had a four-length lead on Se­cret Pages, which was well pre­pared by Glenn Mendez. For­ev­er Grand was com­ing with his run, but he was run­ning out of time. In the fi­nal 300 me­tres, Head­lines Again quick­ened up im­pres­sive­ly to run away with the Der­by by four and a half lengths. Se­cret Pages stayed on strong­ly to get sec­ond, with For­ev­er Grand stay­ing on for third, three lengths be­hind the run­ner-up.

Head­lines Again reg­is­tered the time of 2:13.80 sec­onds for the win­ning trip.

Cham­pi­on train­er O’Brien con­tin­ued his dom­i­nance of the ‘Triple Crown.” O’Brien, who won the first leg of the “Triple Crown,” with Un­cle Rog, who beat Red Alert eas­i­ly at San­ta Rosa Park, Ari­ma.

In the Mid­sum­mer Clas­sic, the Poon Tip Stud Farm-owned For­ev­er Grand won on the turf course like a true cham­pi­on.

For­mer cham­pi­on train­er Glenn Mendez pro­vid­ed the run­ner-up Se­cret Pages in Der­by, but he opened the day with Mar­malade in the Open­ing Ju­ve­nile event over 900 me­tres. Hall of Fame Rid­er Ricky Jadoo flew Mar­malade out of the box, and she ran out an im­pres­sive win­ner of the event. She record­ed the time of 55.50 sec­onds for the trip. The sis­ter of Blue Agave could not have done it any bet­ter.

Dil­lon Khelawan was the day’s lead­ing rid­er, land­ing three win­ners. Khel­wan won the sec­ond event with Strik­ing Chrome for train­er Carl Ram­baran. He joined with his sta­ble in the third and pushed Princess Roy­al to vic­to­ry be­fore win­ning the fea­ture with Head­lines Again. O’Brien was the lead­ing train­er, scor­ing three win­ners. He sad­dled Princess Roy­al, In The Head­lines and Head­lines Again.

DAY 10 RE­SULTS - Tues­day 24th Sep­tem­ber, 2024

R1: NA­TIVE BRED 2 Y.O MAID­ENS 900M - $16,800

1 (3) Mar­malade R Jadoo 52

2 (2) Valiante T Phillips 54

3 (4) So­ca Ec­sta­cy D Khelawan 56

4 (1) Mu­lan N Mo­hammed 52

TIME: 0:55.0 DIS­TANCES: 10 1/2, 2, 5

$1PARI: (3) $2.00

$1EX­AC­TA: $12.55

TRI­FEC­TA: $19.60

WIN­NER: 2y.o. CH fil­ly - Saint Vigeur/Blue Tequi­la(Blue Pep­si Lodge)

OWN­ER: Jer­ry R Narace TRAIN­ER: G Mendez

BREED­ER: Jer­ry Narace

R2: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 1100M - $21,400

1 (7) Strik­ing Chrome D Khelawan 56

2 (5) Mia’s Cat J Stephen 54.5

3 (2) C’Est La Vie E Daniel 57

4 (4) Leonar­do An­gel R M Bal­go­b­in 55.5

TIME: 1:03.2 DIS­TANCES: 2 1/2, 1/2, 3 1/4, 2, 11

$1PARI: (7) $2.45; $1.70; (5) $2.00

$1EX­AC­TA: $26.70

TRI­FEC­TA: $93.80

SU­PER­FEC­TA: $522.50

WIN­NER: 6 y.o. B mare - Cal­i­for­nia Chrome/Is­land Strik­er (Smart Strike)

OWN­ER: Clyde Ram­baran TRAIN­ER: C Ram­baran

BREED­ER: Phillip Robert­son & Bren­da Robert­son

AL­SO RAN: 5.Mid­night Lover T Phillips 56.5; 6. Bay­ou Jazz N Mo­hammed 50.5

R3: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 1750M - $17,300

1 (2) Princess Roy­al D Khelawan 57

2 (7) Davin­dra J Stephen 58.5

3 (1) Lit­tle La­dy R M Bal­go­b­in 55

4 (3) Al­pha Cen­tau­ri N Mo­hammed 57

5 (8) Mag­nifi­co T Phillips 55.5

TIME: 1:56.1 DIS­TANCES: 5, 2, 2 3/4, 1 1/4, 3, 14 1/4

$1PARI: (2) $2.95; $1.85; (7) $2.25

EX­AC­TA: $9.40

TRI­FEC­TA: $30.80

SU­PER­FEC­TA: $145.00

HI-5: $2,086.50

WIN­NER: 4 y.o. CH fil­ly - J’Ou­vert/Al­ways A Princess(Charis­mat­ic Cat)

OWN­ER: Raro­ma Sta­bles TRAIN­ER: J O’Brien

BREED­ER: Ra­jen­dra Ma­hara­jh

AL­SO RAN: 6. Co­man­dante R Jadoo 54.5; 7. Star Of Won­der O Mo­hammed 57.5

NON-RUN­NER: Prince Con­nor

R4: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 1350M - $21,400

1 (4) In The Head­lines N Mo­hammed 52

2 (1) Sneaky Cheeky T Phillips 53

3 (6) The God­dess Nike R M Bal­go­b­in 51

4 (3) Princess Aruna D Khelawan 57

TIME: 1:21.4 DIS­TANCES: Nose, Nose, Nose, Nose, Nose

$1PARI: (4) $4.50; $2.00; (1) $1.95

$1EX­AC­TA: $21.95

TRI­FEC­TA: $20.45

SU­PER­FEC­TA: $40.95

WIN­NER: 4 y.o. CH Fil­ly - Head­line News/B’s Pas­sion(Pre­cise Sweep)

OWN­ER: The Ladies Sta­bles TRAIN­ER: J O’Brien

BREED­ER: Mrs Di­ane Scott

AL­SO RAN: 5. Just Ex­hale E Daniel 54.5; 6. Pawan Pu­tra J Far­rell 57.5.

NON-RUN­NER: Kit­ten With A Whip

R5: TRINIDAD DER­BY STAKES (GR I R) 2000M $112,500

1 (7) Head­lines Again D Khelawan 55.5

2 (4) Se­cret Pages R M Bal­go­b­in 54

3 (2) For­ev­er Grand N Mo­hammed 57

4 (3) Hot Rod Kash­ton E Daniel 57

TIME: 2:13.2 DIS­TANCES: 4, 3 1/4, 5, 1, 45, 60.

$1PARI: (7) $1.45; $1.25; (4) $2.05

$1EX­AC­TA: $21.25

TRI­FEC­TA: $19.20

SU­PER­FEC­TA: $178.40

WIN­NER: 3 yo B fil­ly - Head­line News/Sher­ry’s Tiger (Hold That Tiger)

OWN­ER: Ruthven R Smith TRAIN­ER: J O’Brien

BREED­ER: Ruthven R Smith

AL­SO RAN: 5. Un­cle Rog R Jadoo 57; 6. Un­be­liev­able T Phillips 54; 7. Cap­i­tal Tee J Stephen 57.

R6: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 1200M $17.300

1 (7) Schwarzeneg­ger N Mo­hammed 56.5

2 (1) Em­press Has­san A Daniel 55.5

3 (5) D’Hum­ming­bird J Far­rell 57.5

4 (6) So­ca Syn­er­gy R Jadoo 52

5 (9) JC Pey­ton J Stephen 55.5

TIME:1:17.1 DIS­TANCES: 1/2, 2 1/4, 1/2, 1 1/4, 1, 3 1/4

$1PARI: (7) $3.30; $1.35; (1) $3.15

$1EX­AC­TA: $14.85

TRI­FEC­TA: $40.95

SU­PER­FEC­TA: $244.30

HI-5: $1,386.00

WIN­NER: 6 y.o DK B horse - Ve­gas No Show/Cin­e­ma Show (Gulch)

OWN­ER: Ju­lian Gibbs TRAIN­ER: R Ram­roop

BREED­ER: Par­adise Farms Lim­it­ed

AL­SO RAN: 6. Red Alert O Mo­hammed 56; 7. Twit­ter King R M Bal­go­b­in 54.

NON-RUN­NERS: Tequi­la Rose, Ukraine