Spalding, KC top 4x1500m at Burger King Road Race
Accelerate tops entries for Breeders’ Cup Classic
TDEFENDING champions Spalding High and Kingston College (KC) ruled supreme in the 4x1500 metres at the Burger King Road Race in Portmore on Sunday. The Spalding High girls quartet of Kimora Austin, Kimone Campbell, Sherice Cope, and Kishay Rowe covered the route in 19 minutes 40 seconds. St Jago High were second, just edging out Holmwood Technical in third. Both were awarded the same time, 19:57. After being in second and third positions for the first three legs it was a brilliant anchor leg by Rowe which brought her team to victory and coach Megan Wilson-Copeland was pleased with her team’s winning effort. “I am feeling elated as we just started training two weeks before the event due to internal challenges,” said WilsonCopeland. “We have a very small team this year but a quality one and we are feeling comfortable going into the new season he Breeders’ Cup World Championships will have its biggest entry field along with a new race, which means plenty of storylines. Especially in its main event. Accelerate leads the 14-horse field for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, which will offer the 5-year-old a rematch against West Coast in a marquee race girls and this win is a good motivational one and as long as we get good support, we expect to do well at Champs,” she added.
After a second-place finish a year ago behind St Elizabeth Technical, Kingston College went one place higher by winning in 15:47, the same time as second-place finisher Jamaica College. KC B placed third in 15:48. The winning KC team in running order was Amos Beadle, Kurt Dawkins, Ari Rodgers, and Tarees Rhoden. Rodgers was coming off a man of the match performance the previous day in their Manning Cup football encounter with Cumberland High where he scored two goals.
Hamlin Pagon, the man in charge of the KC middle distance programme, was pleased with his team’s effort.
“I am encouraged by the effort being shown by the boys during training and am cautiously hopeful that this will translate into some good results,” said Pagan.
It was extremely close between the top three teams throughout, but with less than 10 metres to go, Rhoden, the Carifta Games Under-20 representative, sprinted away before slowing down in the latter stages urging his teammate, Gio Henry, to try and hold off the Jamica College anchor runner. that’s missing unbeaten Triple Crown winner Justify.
Horse racing’s 13th Triple Crown champion, who was trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, was retired with an ankle issue in July after winning all six career starts this year. Baffert’s confirmed entries in the Classic are McKinzie and West Coast, whom Accelerate beat by 2 1/4 lengths last month at Santa Anita.
Monomoy Girl will seek another Grade 1 win at Louisville’s Churchill Downs in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. The filly has won eight of 10 starts, including the Kentucky Oaks in May at Churchill.
A record 221 horses were announced on Wednesday for the 35th World Championships on November 2-3. The 14-race schedule totalling a record $30 million in purses includes the inaugural Juvenile Turf Sprint on Friday, November 2.
The Distaff and Dirt Mile have been moved to Saturday’s nine-race Cup card culminating with the Classic.
The Breeders’ Cup entries include a record 51 foreign horses aiming to race at Churchill Downs, which will host for the record-tying ninth time.