Superluminal powers home
SUPERLUMINAL YESTERDAY fought off TIMEFORARMS from three furlongs out to win the 10furlong Kenneth Mattis Memorial in a thrilling finish, holding on grimly to score by three quarters of a length at odds of 5-2.
Carrying topweight 56.0 kilos in the 10-horse field, SUPERLUMINAL, the 2015 St Leger winner, disputed the lead with no-hopers MONTEGONIAN and DANOS LA PAZ down the backstretch before taking over four-and-a-half furlongs out.
Sent on by jockey Paul Francis at the half-mile marker, SUPERLUMINAL shot to the lead but was soon challenged by 7-2 chance TIMEFORARMS with red-hot claiming apprentice Anthony Thomas hunting a fourth winner on the 12-race card.
However, five-year-old SUPERLUMINAL, who had finished last in his previous race, found extra and accelerated off the home turn when eightyear-old TIMEFORARMS tried to pull level entering the straight.
HOVER CRAFT, a joint 5-2 favourite with champion jockey Omar Walker aboard, loomed large into third off the turn and came with his challenge in midtrack.
However, SUPERLUMINAL, down in class among overnight allowance runners, stayed on strongly against the rail to repel a determined TIMEFORARMS, ridden to the max by Thomas,
but just was not good enough, even with an eight-pound advantage.
SUPERLUMINAL flashed past the winning post in a time
of 2:08.2 with TIMEFORARMS on her tail, a hard-fought three quarters of a length. HOVER CRAFT stayed on for third, a lengthand-a-half
behind TIMEFORARMS.
Though he lost a tough race astride TIMEFORARMS, Thomas was again the man, easily closing the programme with 8-5 favourite ROYAL GIRL, completing a four-timer, his 14th winner in four racemeets.
The two-kilo claiming apprentice got things rolling with EARTH ANGEL at 2-1 in the fifth race before scoring back-to-back winners, BROOKLYN at 5-1 in the eighth and CHIEF PROSPECT at 4-1 in the ninth.
Thomas’ latest heroics in his purple patch have propelled him to fourth in the jockeys’ standings on 29 winners, one ahead of Aaron Chatrie and 12 behind third-place Wesley Henry.
Omar Walker remains comfortable atop the standings with 65 winners, ahead of SHANE ELLIS on 43, well on his way to a sixth jockeys’ title after partnering champion trainer LOOSE CANNON to victory in the sixth race.
Racing continues at Caymanas Park on Saturday.