T&T was in Carnival mode before the Grade One—XXII Tanglewood Stakes at the Garrison Savannah in Barbados yesterday when the Sandy Lane Gold Cup Day was being run. But, Hello World gave the celebrations in T&T the green light as the Poon Tip-owned five-year-old won the $70,000 Grade One Tanglewood Stakes over 2,000 metres.
The announcer was speaking with perfection when he said, “Hello World looked like a beast of horse.”
Hello World was sent off as the 7-2 second favourite behind the well-favoured Hurricane which was made the 6-5 favourite. Champion trainer of T&T John O’Brien, who was very confident of victory, could not have done a better job with his one-two finish.
When the starter sent the 12-horse field on their way, Queen of The South was the first to show from Dancing Prospector with Priceless and Michaal tracking along with Undisputed and Ares.
At this time, the two T&T horses—Hello World and Princess Aruna—occupied seventh and 12th positions. After the first two furlongs, the positions remained the same and the horses were now getting set to go past the finish line for the first time.
As the horses made their way down the back, Queen of The South still held sway from Dancing Prospector as Priceless got close to the lead as Michaal was joined by favourite Hurricane. Hello World sneaked a little closer as Super Model and Undisputed closed with Princess Aruna as they began to close in on the leaders.
At the far turn, the Andrew Nunes-trained Queen of The South kept up the pressure on Priceless and Dancing Prospector as Undisputed made his move to the leaders with Ares and Michaal as Dillon Khelawan sent the eight-time consecutive winner to go win his race and he was closing well.
Suddenly, as the horses came to the top of the straight, Hello World was in the lead under Dillon Khelawan. He quickly put the move by Undisputed to bed as Ares moved closer as Rickey Walcott brought Princess Aruna through to challenge.
In the final 200 yards, the only challenger to Hello World was stablemate Princess Aruna which came with a well-timed run to close on Hello World giving O’Brien his first one-two in the Tanglewood Stakes. What more can you say to O’Brien who has shown just how good a trainer, he is.
In the XX Sandy Lane Spa Sprint over 1,100 metres, the Stewards Cup winner Sneaky Cheeky had a horrendous run. She broke well from the inside stall but at the far turn was chopped for racing room and moved from fourth position to ninth and her chance was gone. She was backed into 4-1 by the turfites. The race was won by the Andrew Nunes-trained favourite Renaissance Frolic, which is owned by David Seales. Sir Jimmy was second with David Seales’ Dominus and Brenner Pass third and fourth, respectively. Sneaky Cheeky finished ninth. The winner’s time was 1:07.2.
In the Sandy Lane Gold Cup over 1,800m, the 5-1 shot Harrow came good for trainer Saffie Joseph Jnr. Confidently ridden by Rashid Hughes, he produced his horse with three furlongs to race and quickened into the lead. He took over from the running on favourite Smokin’ T which stayed on strongly to the line but just could not get to the well-ridden winner.
Patrick Husbands did his best but it was not good enough. Jerry The Nipper was third and Public Sector finished fourth in an exciting renewal.
T&T’s horse The Goddess Nike finished seventh at 16-1. However, the Carnival has started in Barbados and will be going on for a long time in T&T.