Mosca hits ‘em for three

DERICK MOSCA saddled three winners to sneak into second place in the 2012 trainers’ standings when horse racing continued at Santa Rosa Park, Arima.Mosca did his damage at the beginning and end of the eight-race card and has now saddled 17 winners from the 18 race days of the Arima Race Club’s 2012 Season.When Dream House triumphed in the curtain event, Mosca not only passed Chester Roberts to be the leading handler of the day, but also went ahead of Harold Chadee in the overall standings.However he is three winners behind defending champion John O’Brien, who uncharacteristically drew a blank.Mosca’s three winners were for his two leading owners, Shivam Maharaj and Juan Navarro.Maharaj was successful in the first two races, but, as was the case two weeks earlier when he was favoured to be in winners’ enclosure on five times but only ended with a double, he came in with greater expectations.Still the champion owner should not be too disappointed with two wins, two seconds and a third from an eight-race card.In fact, Maharaj was very lucky to end up with a double. His Consideritdone was about five lengths adrift of Director Dream in the closing stages of the opener when the favourite stumbled and threw jockey Jody Arneaud just before the finish line in the 1,750-metre handicap for West Indian-bred three-year-old maidens.

Merlin Samlalsingh’s loss was Maharaj’s gain, but Mosca would have been celebrating either way as he trains both horses.He and Maharaj combined right after to win again as top fancy Chief’s Nephew slammed a bunch of $14,000-$9,000 Claimers by 8 ½ lengths over a distance of 1,350 metres. Then Maharaj came within a length of a hat-trick, but Raging Thunder came late to deny the Lester Alexis-trained Officer Ike in the 1,200-metre affair for 85-65 rated horses.Then after not being represented in the fourth event, the champion owner had another second-placed finish when the Dr. Anthony Griffith-trained Love In Tokyo finished two lengths behind Red-Hot Wheels in the event for 30 & lower rated horses over the same trip.Both Raging Thunder and Red-Hot Wheels are handled by Roberts, who held on to the joint lead for two more races.But in the curtain event, the Navarro-owned Dream House held off a fast-finishing The Red Skull by a whisker to settle the deadlock in Mosca’s favour.Back on Top looked very dangerous for a long way in his first appearance in over three months before fading to finish tenth and last in the 1,750-metre contest for 70-50 rated horses.It was the sixth time in succession that the 2010 Trinidad Derby winner has failed to beat a horse.

In the race before, his half-brother Believe It Or Not, also bought by veteran owner/trainer/breeder Maniram Maharaj when Junior Sammy pulled out of the sport last year, came with a tremendous stretch run to score for the second time in his last three outings.The son of Western Envoy just got up by half-length to deny Ten Powers in the 1,300-metre contest for 60-40 rated horses.It was certainly the most exciting finish of the day as Blame It On Me finished another half-length back and 3/4^th of a length ahead of his O’Brien-trained stable companion Fleet Admiral.The Shivam-owned Blame It On Me must really be commended as was stepping up to face seasoned campaigners after beating his fellow locally-bred three-year-olds six weeks earlier in his only other start.The son of Babel, bred by former Arima Race Club president and current Betting Levy Board chairman Kama Maharaj, was actually collared and passed by Fleet Admiral in the home stretch. But he displayed his fighting spirit by battling back and eventually finishing almost a length clear of the evens favourite.Believe It Or Not was piloted by Freddy Manrrique, who also booted home Chief’s Nephew and was the day’s leading rider. Before the start, the Venezuelan had only scored three times from 52 mounts at Santa Rosa Park.

Favourites had a tough time and Chief’s Nephew was the only one to oblige.Still, it was not day filled with major upsets and the biggest outsider to score was Nawab at odds of 13/1 in the third race.The Zanim Meah-John-bred and owned chestnut blew away the 55-35 rated horses over 1,100 metres by 5 ½ lengths in the hands of Nicholas Patrick. The Jose William-Samaroo-trained Nawab was scoring for the second straight time after whipping a bunch of maidens over the same distance on the turf at odds of 11/1 on Easter Monday (April 9).This race was also framed for the grass, but was switched to the main course along with the other two turf races because of a water-logged track.

Racing continues at Santa Rosa Park on Saturday.