Review of race day —Sunday, September 27, 2020
The day belonged to jockey Anthony Thomas, trainer Wayne Dacosta
Nine-year-old Unbreakable, winner of 24 races, this time by eight lengths, from 98 starts, was turned out in unbeatable condition by third-generation trainer Steven Todd for title-chasing Anthony Thomas to lay down a marker to chief rival Dane Nelson by stacking up five winners on the day to tally eight over two days.
Odds-on favourite, classy England’s Rose, trained by Wayne Dacosta, ran well returning from a setback, but was only good for third as the second event was won by Laban ridden by Dane Dawkins for Richard Azan who secured a double with Shepanza in the third.
This was half an hour before
Thomas rode his second on Buckaluck for trainer Gregory Forsyth to visit the winners’ enclosure.
In the fifth, Primal Fear (Oshane Nugent) was disqualified from first for initiating an incident that resulted in a spill and the race awarded to Gary Subratie’s Big Big Daddy (Robert Halledeen).
The finishing speed of Fearless Champion overwhelmed the front runners inside the last half a furlong of the sixth event for the fourth of Thomas’s five-timer and the second of three for trainer Wayne Dacosta, with juvenile Den Street romping the seventh.
The eighth was run under a deluge as the rains came down with a vengeance forcing the eventual abandonment of the ninth.
However, this cloud burst, the second of the weekend, could not put a damper on 2018 champion Thomas’s best ever day in the saddle.
In the eighth, over the extended circular nine-furlong course, Us-bred Summer Sun outstayed 11 rivals for the rider’s fifth winner and Dacosta’s third.
THE AWARDS
The Training Feat Award is presented to Richard Azan for the obvious improvement displayed by Shepanza with her impressive run earning her the Best Winning Gallop accolade.
The Jockeyship Award is given to Anthony Thomas for his handling of Summer Sun, a horse who likes to see most of his rivals, but was kept in close touch on this occasion.