KELVIN ‘N’

The Chief Com­man­der Clas­sic has been won by sev­er­al top-class hors­es over the years. This edi­tion will be con­test­ed over 1,600 me­tres on the turf track at San­ta Rosa Park, Ari­ma, on April 10.

When sub­scrip­tions were tak­en yes­ter­day for the fea­ture event, a to­tal of nine hors­es re­main in the hunt for ho­n­ours. A to­tal of $5,166 was col­lect­ed for the event.

The race has been robbed of in­ter­est with the with­draw­al of the top ju­ve­nile of 2022 Hel­lo World. How­ev­er, cham­pi­on train­er John O’Brien has the re­cent im­pres­sive win­ner and sta­ble­mate In The Head­lines, which won the Roy­al Colours Clas­sic, in the line­up.

This year, the race seems to be be­tween the two top train­ers in the coun­try, O’Brien and Glenn Mendez.

The Mendez-trained Fire­crack­er won well on her first start over 1,100m on day one of the Ari­ma Race Club (ARC), on Jan­u­ary 28. Fire­crack­er scored de­ci­sive­ly by 5 1/2 lengths from Harts Gap, Blind­ing Lights and An­gry Bird. How­ev­er, the Jer­ry Narace-owned Fire­crack­er was pulled out of the Roy­al Colours Clas­sic which was won by the im­pres­sive scor­er, In The Head­lines.

How­ev­er, Mendez is a mas­ter of this art and Fire­crack­er will not race un­less she is ready.

One must have re­spect and re­gard for In The Head­lines. This fil­ly win was an easy one and she no doubt will be seen do even bet­ter over this dis­tance of 1,600m.

O’Brien al­so has Blind­ing Light, Afri­di and Princess Roy­al in the fray. Blind­ing Light has fin­ished a good sec­ond to In The Head­lines in the Roy­al Colours Clas­sic and looks to be im­prov­ing. She looks cer­tain to stay and must be in with a chance.

Princess Roy­al keeps im­prov­ing with every work­out and will have a good op­por­tu­ni­ty to get in­to the frame in this event.

The Glen Em­manuel-trained Beep Beep will have her third start in this event and could do even bet­ter.

The fi­nal two hors­es nom­i­nat­ed for the ‘Clas­sic’ are new­com­er Miss Sunak and Star At­trac­tion. They both will need to im­prove dras­ti­cal­ly to make the frame in this event. This will be the first time that the three-year-olds will be rac­ing around two turns and will be rac­ing on the turf course.

What a race we could see should In The Head­lines and Fire­crack­er take on each oth­er.

O’Brien has four of the nine nom­i­nat­ed hors­es in the event.

The to­tal take for the first two sub­scrip­tions is $10,570.

Day four fea­ture (9)

CHIEF COM­MAN­DER CLAS­SIC (R T&T) (GR III R) - 1,600m: Afri­di, Beep Beep, Blind­ing Lights, Fire­crack­er, In The Head­lines, Miss Sunak, Nu­clear War, Princess Roy­al, Star At­trac­tion.