FORT ERIE – Chris Husbands continued to run away with the Fort Erie championship, notching an impressive brace in Canada on Monday.
The 32-year-old Barbadian, bidding for his third straight riding crown at the southern Ontario oval, won race six with favourite Nikolaou and the final race on the eight-race programme with 2-1 chance Eye Got it Good.
Husbands heads the standings with 30 wins, already 14 clear of nearest challenger Jamaican Kirk Johnson, in the season which got underway May 23 and winds up October 17.
The day was a difficult one for Caribbean jockeys, however, veteran Barbadian Juan Crawford riding the only other winner for the region when he carried 6-1 bet Fafa Fooey to a 2-1/4 length score in race seven over five furlongs, for the three-year-olds and upward.
Husbands, meanwhile, drew blanks in four of the day’s first five races before finally tasting success when he led five-year-old chestnut gelding Nikolaou to a 2-½ length win over the three-year-olds and upward.
He stalked pacesetter Wilberforce before bidding on the turn and taking command in the stretch.
His second win came in a five-furlong sprint for the three-year-old and upward maiden fillies and mares when he turned back the field by 2-1/2 lengths aboard the four-year-old dark bay filly Eye Got it Good.
Husbands was forced to duel early on with 19-1 outsider Cosmic Shot before carving out a narrow lead on the turn and out-running rivals in the stretch.
CMC
