Former champion trainer Glenn Mendez was very happy with the performance of his 2019 "Horse Of The Year", Juice Man, on Saturday in the feature Handicap for horses rated 80 and over going over a distance of 1,750 metres at Santa Rosa Park, Arima.
The event which was originally scheduled for the turf track was changed to the main track because of the heavy rainfall over the weekend.
Mendez said, "He won how we expected him to win. He was galloping extremely well in preparation for this race and he obliged in style. At present, Juice Man is a fit and healthy horse and we hope he will remain in this manner. Really, he had an uninterrupted preparation and he galloped superbly in preparation for this event."
Punters made the Mendez-trained Juice Man the 3-5 favourite to take the event and he never gave his backer any reason to worry, obliging by four and a quarter lengths from General JN and Thisonesforron, respectively.
When asked about the ride of Ricky Jadoo, Mendez said, "It was the typical Ricky Jadoo ride. He knows the horse and rides him with confidence. He broke him smartly and set the fraction and when he asked him to go win his race, he quickened up in great style."
On the race being move to the main track, Mendez said, "We really wanted to get in a race on the turf track before the Independence Cup which will be his next start on August 31 - Independence Day. He has worked on the surface and we expected to run well but that was not to be.
"The other horses who he will come up against like General JN and Apocalypse have never raced on the turf so we will all have to wait on Independence Day to have our first start on the turf track. I am of the belief that he will run well on the grass as he pedigree clearly points in that direction. But we are hopeful that the transition will be a positive one."
On Saturday last, when the horses approached the corner, Juice Man was confronted by General JN who loomed up to challenge him but the manner in which he put away "the General' who is a very good horse, was something worth seeing. He simply breezed away from General JN with Jadoo being able to ease him down close home. He could take some beating in the top races of the year.