Cham­pi­on train­er John O’Brien con­tin­ued his su­perb train­ing feat when he won both grad­ed events on Tues­day at San­ta Rosa Park, Ari­ma.

O’Brien sad­dled the Ed­mund De­Fre­itas Gold Cup win­ner Hel­lo World to an im­pres­sive vic­to­ry in the biggest Stay­ing Event in the South­ern Caribbean over 2,000 me­tres. Pri­or to this win, he won the St James/St Anns Stakes with the im­pres­sive Head­lines Again in the third event.

O’Brien thus con­tin­ued his win­ning ways and took the two ma­jor events on the fi­nal day of the 2023 sea­son.

Many pun­ters were shocked when Hel­lo World opened in the bet­ting as the 3-5 favourite. He went even short­er 10 min­utes lat­er at 1-5 but with five min­utes to start time he eased in the bet­ting to even-mon­ey favourite.

Crown Prince, the win­ner of the Gold Cup last year, was strong in the bet­ting at 2-1 with So­ca Har­mo­ny re­ceiv­ing good punts at 5-2.

When the starter sent the field on their way, a loud shout was heard as all eight hors­es emerged from the 2,000-me­tre start. “Triple Crown” win­ner, In The Head­lines, was well away and he led from Crown Prince with the Hel­lo World in third just ahead of Stroke of Luck. These were fol­lowed by Mak­ing Head­lines and last year’s sec­ond-placed fin­ish­er Just Ex­hale with So­ca Har­mo­ny track­ing as Princess Aruna was con­tent­ed to ob­serve from the rear.

Go­ing down the back stretch, In The Head­lines still held sway as No­bel Abrego kept Crown Prince close up as Hel­lo World was be­ing pressed for the third spot by Stroke of Luck. Just Ex­hale came next with Mak­ing Head­lines try­ing to get clos­er to the lead­ers as So­ca Har­mo­ny moved clos­er with Princess Aruna still wait­ing.

At the far turn, In The Head­lines still held sway with Abrego ap­ply­ing pres­sure aboard Crown Prince as Hel­lo World moved clos­er in third as So­ca Har­mo­ny be­gan her run at the lead­ers in fourth. Just Ex­hale was keep­ing on while Mak­ing Head­lines and Stroke of Luck came un­der pres­sure.

When the hors­es en­tered the straight, Crown Prince took the lead from In The Head­lines as the rails opened up for Hel­lo World with Just Ex­hale and So­ca Har­mo­ny clos­ing in.

With­in 30 me­tres, the race was over as cham­pi­on jock­ey Bri­an Boodram­s­ingh sent the three-year-old Hel­lo World to win his first Grade One event. He quick­ly put paid to the chances of Crown Prince and gal­loped ma­jes­ti­cal­ly to the line. So­ca Har­mo­ny stayed on well to be third ahead of Just Ex­hale in fourth with the ear­ly leader In The Head­lines fad­ing in­to fifth.

Hel­lo World record­ed to time of 2:09.1 for the 3 3/4-length romp.

In the St James/St Ann’s Stakes, it was much the same as Boodram­s­ingh put the 1-9 favourite Head­lines Again in­to the lead and she won eas­i­ly from Sta­ble­mate Creme De La Creme and Red Alert with Un­cle Rog show­ing that he is one for the note­book. Head­lines Again reg­is­tered the time of 1:24.4 for the trip.

The O’Brien camp must be hap­py with Boodram­s­ingh now jock­ey’s cham­pi­on and Tris­tan Phillip the ap­pren­tice cham­pi­on and O’Brien the cham­pi­on train­er.

Lester Alex­is had his best day for the sea­son when sad­dling two win­ners in Afri­di and Mid­night Lover. Afri­di won at 2-1 and Mid­night Lover scored at 20-1. Lucky pun­ters got $60 for the dou­ble.

O’Brien end­ed the sea­son just as he start­ed win­ning every ma­jor event con­test­ed. The lead­ing rid­er was Boodram­s­ingh who rode three win­ners in Head­lines Again, Hel­lo World and the Glenn Mendez-trained The­o­ry of Colours.

DAY 14 RE­SULTS

R1: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 YO AND OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 60-45 - 1,350M - $17,700

1*(4)*Leonar­do An­gel*T Phillips*54.5*

2*(2)*Mag­nifi­co*A Poon*54.5*

3*(1)*Blue Agave*N Abrego*57.5*

4*(5)*Star Of Won­der*N Flaven­ney*51*

TIME: 1:23.1 DIS­TANCES: 7, 1, 7, 2 1/2

$1PARI: (4) $2.25

$1EX­AC­TA: $12.50

TRI­FEC­TA: $16.15

WIN­NER: 7y.o. B geld­ing - Da Vin­ci/Fall­en An­gel (Dev­il’s Bag)

OWN­ER: Lance Warn­er Jnr TRAIN­ER: T Thomas

BREED­ER: Fyzal Razif Amin

AL­SO RAN: 5. Ar­salan O Mo­hammed 56.

R2: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 YO AND OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 25-0 - 1,200M - $13,900

1*(5)*Afri­di*O Mo­hammed*57.5*

2*(3)*Pure Strike*R Bal­go­b­in*52.5*

3*(7)*Qua­si­mo­to*N Abrego*57*

4*(1)*Ful­fill*B Boodram­s­ing*56*

TIME: 1:16.2: DIS­TANCES: 3/4, 1/2, Neck,3/4, 4, 17 1/2

$1PARI: (5) $3.20; $4.35; (3) $4.65

$1EX­AC­TA: $62.30

TRI­FEC­TA: $887.20

SU­PER­FEC­TA: $1,092.10

WIN­NER: 3 y.o. DK B geld­ing - Da Vin­ci/Pleas­ant Amour (Pleas­ant Tap)

OWN­ER: Vic­tor Prescott TRAIN­ER: L Alex­is

BREED­ER: Nigel Amin

AL­SO RAN: 5.D’Hum­ming­bird T Phillips 55.5; 6. Man On Fire A Poon 54; 7. Schwarzeneg­ger N Sama­roo 58.5.

R3: ST JAMES/ST ANN’S STAKES (GR II R. C, G & F) OPEN TO WI BRED 2 YO COLTS/GELD­INGS AND FIL­LIES - 1,350M - $59,300

1*(3)*Head­lines Again*B Boodram­s­ing*53.5*

2*(2)*Creme De La Creme*R Ali*55.5*

3*(5)*Red Alert*A Poon*54*

4*(1)*Un­cle Rog*R Bal­go­b­in*55*

TIME: 1:24.4 DIS­TANCES: 6 1/2, 1 1/4, 1 1/2, 3, 99 3/4.

$1PARI: (3) $1.15; $1.00; (2) $1.00

EX­AC­TA: $2.75

TRI­FEC­TA: $2.30

SU­PER­FEC­TA: $18.35

WIN­NER: 2 y.o. 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. Hot Rod Kash­ton O Mo­hammed 55.5; 6. So­ca Syn­er­gy R Jadoo 52.

R4: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 YO AND OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 45-30 - 1,200M - $13,900

1*(7)*Mid­night Lover*N Sama­roo*56.5*

2*(5)*Princess Roy­al*B Boodram­s­ing*56*

3*(3)*Davin­dra*N Abrego*57.5*

4*(4)*Co­man­dante*R Jadoo*57.5*

TIME: 1:14.1 DIS­TANCES: 3/4, 5 1/2, Neck, 3/4, 2 3/4, 28 1/4.

$1PARI: (7) $20.10; $2.95; (5) $2.35

$1EX­AC­TA: $147.80

TRI­FEC­TA: $137.30

SU­PER­FEC­TA: $262.05

WIN­NER: 4 y.o. CH geld­ing - J’Ourvert/Kidz Ro (Lemon Drop Kid).

OWN­ER: Suraj Hay­ban TRAIN­ER: L Alex­is

BREED­ER: Ra­jen­dra Ma­hara­jh

AL­SO RAN: 5.Prince Con­nor A Poon 54.5; 6. Harts Gap O Mo­hammed 55.5; 7. Zee Zee D Ro­dri­go 51.

R5: GOLD CUP (GR I) OPEN TO WI BRED 3 YO & OVER & IM­PORT­ED 2 YO & OVER - 2,000M - $113,900

1*(7)*Hel­lo World*B Boodram­s­ing*53*

2*(8)*Crown Prince*N Abrego*57*

3*(6)*So­ca Har­mo­ny*R Ali*55.5*

4*(4)*Just Ex­hale*T Phillips*54*

5*(1)*In The Head­lines*R Bal­go­b­in*52*

TIME: 2:09.1 DIS­TANCES: 3 3/4, 1 1/2, 3/4, 3 1/2, 8 1/2, 6 1/4.

$1PARI: (7) $2.00; $1.20; (8) $1.55; (6) $1.65

$1EX­AC­TA: $7.20

TRI­FEC­TA: $13.35

SU­PER­FEC­TA: $82.95

HI-5: $134.70

WIN­NER: 3 y.o DK B colt -Ten Meropa/Grand Riv­iere (A Great Team)

OWN­ER: Poon Tip Stud Farm Lim­it­ed TRAIN­ER: J O’Brien

BREED­ER: Poon Tip Stud Farm Lim­it­ed

AL­SO RAN: 6. Mak­ing Head­lines O Mo­hammed 57; 7. Princess Aruna R Jadoo 54; 8. Stroke Of Luck N Sama­roo 57.

R6: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 YO AND OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 35-0 - 1,350M - $14,400

1*(2)*The­o­ry Of Colours*B Boodram­s­ing*58*

2*(8)*Al­pha Cen­tau­ri*T Phillips*56.5*

3*(5)*Mag­i­cal World*N Abrego*57*

4*(3)*At­ta Girl Sil­vy*A Poon*54.5*

5*(1)*Per­fect Saint*O Mo­hammed*56*

TIME: 1:37.3 DIS­TANCES: 1, 99 3/4, 99 3/4, 99 3/4, 99 3/4, 99 3/4.

$1PARI: (2) $1.60; $1.10 (8) $1.20; (5) $1.55

$1EX­AC­TA: $4.20

TRI­FEC­TA: $24.95

SU­PER­FEC­TA: $94.15

HI-5: $448.30

WIN­NER: 3y.o. B fil­ly - Da Vin­ci/Ra­ga Dwe­sha (Mus­tan­far)

OWN­ER: Lau­rence Berment TRAIN­ER: G Mendez

BREED­ER: Lau­rence Berment

AL­SO RAN: 6. Twit­ter King N Sama­roo 57; 7. Lit­tle La­dy R Jadoo 57; 8. Em­press Has­san R Bal­go­b­in 57.