Big Man reigns supreme in 2014 The racing season ended on Boxing Day with an enthralling 11-race Republic Bank sponsored card. The day witnessed the coronation of a number of champions and set a platform for another competitive year in 2015. The undisputed Horse of the Year was Baskaran Bassawh’s Bigman in Town. This colt came of age, dispelling all of the doubts that surrounded his effervescent owner’s claims that he was the best horse in training in the country, maybe even the best to have raced on these shores. The latter is still to be determined but there is no doubting his position at the top of the tree at present. Bigman in Town swept all before him during the final half of the season with impressive wins in Santa Rosa Dash (1200 metres), the President’s Cup (1900), Diamond Stakes (1350), the Caribbean Champion Stakes (1800) and the Republic Bank Gold Cup (2000). Two of these wins resulted in new track records. Bigman in Town’s performances over a variety of distances will probably see him also sweeping most of the Jetsam Awards for Champion Sprinter, Champion Stayer, Champion Creole Sprinter and Champion Creole Stayer. The only category in which he might receive a challenge is Champion Sprinter. His victories in the Santa Rosa Dash and Diamond Stakes represented wins in two of the four major sprints for the Open category during any given year. The other two races are the Sian’s Gold Sprint and the Stewards Cup. In 2014, the former was won by Indian Medicine, a turf specialist while the latter was won for the second successive year by Crime of Passion. Crime of Passion will challenge Bigman in Town for the Champion Sprinter by virtue of his success in the Stewards’ Cup but that event was one of the weaker sprints conducted during the year, following the absence of Bigman in Town and Carbon Fibre together with the retirement of Signal Alert. Crime of Passion had previously been well beaten by Bigman in Town in both the Dash and the Diamond Stakes and there can be little doubt that he would have been soundly beaten had he contested the event. The three-year-old category also had a standout in Triple Crown winner Momentum. This Jamaican bred colt raced unbeaten against his fellow three year olds throughout the year winning five of his eight starts. The colt began his classic season with a comfortable win against the open class before rolling through the Flamingo Stakes, the Guineas, the Midsummer Classic and then the Derby. His three defeats came at the hands of Urban Knight (in his Derby warmup) and twice to Bigman in Town. He ended the year with an uncharacteristically poor performance in the Republic Bank Gold Cup but that performance cannot detract from what was an overall exceptional year. No other three-year-old colt made much of an impression and Momentum should comfortably secure the titles of Champion Three Year Old and Champion Three-Year-Old Colt. The filly’s division should pose more of a headache with three fillies vying for the title. Jamaican superstar Princess Popstar made her debut with a sparking victory in the Oaks over the two other contenders for the title, Glorious Country (3rd) and Market Rally (4th). This filly then went on to be second in the Derby behind Momentum before throwing in a poor performance in the Caribbean Champion Stakes when only fifth. Glorious Country performed creditably during the year following up her maiden victory with wins in the Gleneagle Stakes and Distaff Classic with a second place finish to Market Rally in the Breeders’ Classic and a third place finish, as the only locally bred participant, in the Trinidad Derby. Market Rally also performed well during the year following up her maiden victory with a win in the Breeders’ Classic and numerous placed performances including in the Gleneagle (4th), Distaff Classic (2nd), and Chief Commander Classic (2nd). We will leave this one to the judges. The two-year-old division crowned its champions on Republic Bank Day with impressive performances from the winners of both the Republic Mortgages St Ann’s Stakes and the Republic Online St James Stakes. In the Republic St Ann’s, the Jamaican bred Blue Tequila followed up her record breaking run in the Nursery Stakes by decimating a quality field which included the hitherto unbeaten pair of Serengeti and Star Sapphire. The filly appeared to never come off the bridle in sauntering to a 12-length victory in a time that was a full second faster than the colts in the Republic St James Stakes. The question to be answered is “will she stay?” but that is a question for another day. The colt’s victor was War Maker, an imposing chesnut son of War Marshall, owned like Bigman in Town, by Baskaran Bassawh. This colt had been just touched off on his debut by the more experienced Royal Pioneer but he secured his revenge on that conqueror with a comprehensive four length victory. While the co-favourite Criminal Intent was disappointing, it is hard to believe he would have beaten his stable companion even if at his best. The champion two-year-old filly is easily Blue Tequila and the champion colt is War Maker. In the battle for overall champion two year old, this year, the girls have it and there is no doubt that Blue Tequila will take that crown. Among the imported two year olds, there were standout performances from Control Unit, American Ranger, Danube Waltz and Sweet Sin City. The Champion will be Control Unit. As we look ahead, one hopes that the top class Headline News might be able to grace the track once again, so that it can be more clearly established which is the superior horse. A rejuvenated Princess Popstar will also add considerable spice to the menu. Throw in the two-year-old scene and the number of unraced but high potential animals as well as the younger imported horses and we could be in for a good year. Source:: Guardian Sports The post Big Man reigns supreme in 2014 appeared first on Trinidad & Tobago Online. #trinidad
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 02:05:04 +0000
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