| Race Day Preview Day 13-Saturday 31st March 2012 | ||||
|
|
ARIMA RACE CLUB RACE DAY PREVIEW DAY 13 SATURDAY 31st MARCH 2012
Gabby’s Gold comes back Saturday
GABBY’S GOLD will make his long-awaited to action when horse racing continues Saturday at Santa Rosa Park, Arima.
There will be eight events during the 13th round of the Arima Race Club’s 2012 Season and the Shivam Maharaj-owned chestnut will be seen in the penultimate at 4.47 p.m.
Although Gabby’s Gold has only faced the starter twice since he came down from Woodbine Racecourse in Canada late last year, he has left such an indelible impression on fans that they are expected to come out in their numbers for his re-appearance.
The American-bred son of Johannesburg had made a very impressive debut with a five-length triumph in the Imported Juvenile Sprint Challenge during the inaugural Caribbean Nation’s Challenge Day on December 3.
Gabby’s Gold was then seen on Boxing Day (December 26) when he toyed with the opposition to win the Juvenile Sprint by a commanding six lengths over Saturday’s 1,200-metre distance.
The Derick Mosca-trained colt reportedly suffered a set-back since and it would be very interesting to see how he performs in his first race in three months.
If Gabby’s Gold is not at his best, his unbeaten record could be in danger as the field of ten 85-65 rated horses also contains the vastly-improved Smart American.
This son of former Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Smarty Jones also used to race in Maharaj’s colours until he was claimed from the champion owner by veteran Harold Chadee for $20,000 after his first career victory on January 2.
This could very well turn out to be the bargain purchase of the year as Smart American, who had failed to find winners’ enclosure in his first seven outings, has comfortably won both times in Chadee’s colours and will be attempting to complete a beaver-trick of victories.
Two of his three wins have been over today’s trip and the American-bred four-year-old defeated 85-65 rated horses by almost three lengths when he last faced the starter just over a month ago.
Although there are nine other involved, it looks like a two-horse race between Secret American and Gabby’s Gold as the others are not up to scratch.
Becquerel, who is a two-turn horse anyway, and Mighty Splash have clearly been struggling, while Treasure Hunt has not been close to his best since he finished in the money in all three legs of the 2010 triple crown and the Jamaican-bred five-year-old was a disappointing seventh of eight in the Starlight Stakes last Saturday.
Handsome Warrior is talented, but not sound, while Invictus has not finished in the money in his last five starts.
Raging Thunder struggled to beat 70-50 rated horses last time out and Luca’s Gold is coming back after a break, but they still may be able to finish on the board.
King Whistler might be the best option for third place as this American-bred four-year-old relishes the distance and is in decent form.
After tremendous payouts last Saturday, punters will have to start back from scratch in both the Pick 6 and Place 8 wagers.
Punters solving the Pick 6 puzzle walked away with over $20,000, while one person was successful in the Place 8 and took away over $41,000.
This amount was about eight times more than had ever been paid out in this bet before.
Since we have an eight-race card, the Place 8 will obviously start with the first, a 1,350-metre handicap at 1 p.m. with seven West Indian-bred four-year-old maidens.
The Pick 6 will get going two races later and 11 horses, rated 40 & lower, have been declared to compete over the same distance at 2.15 p.m.
The first of three HI-5 betting events will follow at 2.53 p.m., and the field of ten locally-bred maidens for the 1,200-metre handicap includes five newcomers – Red Cloud, Blame It On Me, Blackfoot Beauty, Stroke Of Luck and Naughty N Nice.
There will also be HI-5 wagering in the sixth and curtain events. A grand total of 16 horses, rated 60-40, have been declared to do battle over 1,100 metres on the turf at 4.09 p.m. in the sixth race.
The curtain event has attracted 13 and the 55-35 rated horses will be doing battle over 1,750 metres at 5.25 p.m.
Let’s not forget that the HI-5 payout in the final race of last Saturday’s programme was almost $50,000.
|
| Last Updated ( Saturday, 31 March 2012 16:27 ) |