Half-centuries from Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Joshua Da Silva and Raymon Reifer have put the West Indies “A” in a solid position after the first day of their third four-day “Test” match against Bangladesh “A” at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Monday.
The tourists currently find themselves 320-6 off 82 overs after winning the toss and batting first.
Chanderpaul led the way with 83 off 160 balls, hitting nine fours and a six in the process. The 26-year-old also made 83 in the first game.
Da Silva, the Captain, was much more proactive for his 82. His knock came off 94 balls and included 12 fours and a pair of sixes.
Alick Athanaze also chipped in with a well-compiled 59 off 66 balls including seven fours and two sixes while Reifer ended the day 56* off 90 balls including six fours and a six. Kevin Sinclair (22*) is currently partnering Reifer in the middle.
Nasum Ahmed has, so far, taken 3-92 off 26 overs for the hosts while Musfik Hasan has taken 2-50 in 13 overs.
West Indies “A” lead the series 1-0.
There are two kinds of people in life – those blessed with happy happenstance and those for whom the opposite is true. Ben Hanbury puts himself firmly in the former camp.
Despite ending his training career prematurely for financial reasons in 2004, the passing of his beloved wife Moira four years later and his own ongoing health issues, Hanbury’s particular, unmistakable vernacular is most notable for the use of the word “lucky”, in every conceivable grammatical form.
And it provides an interesting dichotomy.
Replete with perma-tan and always the sharpest-dressed man on a racecourse, he was never one to follow the usual fashions or tried-and-tested ways of acquiring equine talent.
Hanbury will forever be remembered for his association with Midway Lady, winner of the 1000 Guineas and Oaks in 1986.
“She is a remarkable story,” said Hanbury, 77, who saddled some 900 winners in an illustrious career.
“I used to go to Venezuela to look for new owners, because when I was assistant to Bernard Van Cutsem he trained for Venezuelan owners.
“Michael Stoute and Barry Hills were plundering the English market for owners and I thought I’d go to Venezuela, America and Japan, anywhere to look for new owners.
“I made friends with a man whose father was a trainer out there and I said to the Venezuela Racing Association I was the champion trainer in England – and I’d hardly trained a winner!
“I kept in touch and he rang me up one day and he said, ‘I’ve seen a horse and I’ve had a dream – and in this dream she is going to become the champion filly of Europe’.
“I was desperate for horses, so we went to Keeneland and he showed me this filly. She was by Alleged, who was a hell of a sire, but she was very crooked and very ugly.
“The average for Alleged was 200,000 or 300,000 (dollars) and we picked her up for 42,000, which I thought was a lot of money. So we bought her with his dream intact.
“I got her home and she was very weak and a chronic box walker. She was coming on all right as a two-year-old and I went to Keeneland in July and I said to my apprentice, ‘you can ride her at Yarmouth, but I haven’t worked her’ – she’d just started strong cantering.
“I said, ‘look after her, I don’t care where you finish, but it might just change her mind and give her something to think about’.
“Anyway, she was second to Stoute’s best filly, Untold, and I was absolutely astounded.
“So after that race, I backed her for the Oaks at 100-1, which I thought was a terrible price because I’d never had a Classic runner, never mind a winner. I thought she should have been 500-1.
“After that she was never beaten!”
Midway Lady went on to race five times more, winning a Yarmouth maiden, the May Hill at Doncaster and the Prix Marcel Boussac under Lester Piggott, who retired for the first time at the end of 1985.
“I was never going to train her for the Guineas,” said Hanbury. “As she was a chronic box walker, I used to turn her out in the field.
“Then, in February, she fractured a splint bone, which was quite serious but not life-threatening.
“I said, ‘that’s it, we’ll be lucky to get her back for the Guineas’.
“Anyway, she recovered quite quickly and as any trainer will tell you, they are just like flowers. They suddenly come. This filly had to be box-rested and she got stronger and suddenly looked a million dollars.”
A racecourse gallop at Yarmouth convinced him to run in the Guineas and, with Ray Cochrane in the saddle as Piggott opted not to come out of retirement, the 10-1 chance powered up the stands rail at Newmarket to score by three-quarters of a length from Maysoon, with the 6-4 favourite Sonic Lady third.
On June 7, 1986, Midway Lady then justified 15-8 favouritism in the Oaks, winning by a length from Untold, with Maysoon third.
“Everyone looks from the outside and thinks things are rosy. But there are 365 days in a year – 350 of them are disappointing,” Hanbury pointed out.
“Most days, for everyone with horses, it’s depressing, so it’s great when you have a bit of luck.
“I didn’t have a party, I just went home and was physically ill. It was such a relief.”
However, during the race Midway Lady picked up a leg injury, which failed to respond to treatment, and in August that year she was retired.
“In my short training career, I was never lucky in so far that I had some good horses but every one of them got injured or never went on,” said Hanbury.
“She broke down in the Oaks. She never ran after June, but obviously if she was sound, she’d have won everything.”
Nineteen years later, Midway Lady’s daughter, Eswarah, similarly won the Oaks, a few months after Hanbury retired.
“Eswarah never ran as a two-year-old and had an injury – that’s why I really gave up,” he added.
“I walked into her box about October time and she had this injury, and I said, ‘that’s it!’.
“Eswarah was a very tricky, nervous filly. She went to Michael Jarvis and he trained her unbelievably well.
“I was absolutely delighted for Michael. He was a big friend, good luck to him. He was a lovely man. You can’t look back – ‘if’ is a great word, you know.”
Hanbury was just 58 when Diomed Stables was shuttered, with the keys passed on to Stuart Williams.
“You need a lot of luck. All my life I have been very lucky,” he added. “I don’t think I had much ability.
“I’d had a shocking year. When luck goes your way, I’d won every photograph, the ground was right, the draw was right.
“Then I had a five-year spell when it rained – I got the wrong draw, the jockey got shut in and I was having no luck, absolutely none. Everything went wrong.
“My accountant said, ‘you’ve lost £80,000 and you won’t last’. I had a valuable yard and unfortunately, when things go against you, you have got to have owners, you’ve got to have horses, you have got to have numbers. I was down to 30 horses.
“It takes quite a lot of guts to give up. Once you ring all your owners and say ‘I’m retiring’, that’s it. You can’t ring them up and say ‘I’m very sorry, I made a mistake’.
“I regretted retiring, but as it turned out, it was the best thing that ever happened financially.”
Anyone who is scorched by the fires of hardship – financial, physical or mental – can often feel grateful if blessed with a positive disposition.
To some, Hanbury may not seem particularly fortunate.
In his formative years, after working as a stable lad for Ryan Price, he ventured to Ireland. As a jockey, he had modest success, even partnering Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National winner L’Escargot to victory twice early in the horse’s career for Dan Moore.
Yet a terrible fall sidelined him for a year and fate took him on a different path.
“I came to Newmarket to get strong and I went to Bernard Van Cutsem, just to ride out and help him, and I saw there was much more money than being a bad professional jockey,” he said.
“That was 55 years ago and I never left Newmarket, never left my house. That was luck, complete luck.
“You need luck. Kala Dancer is another example. He got such a fright when Law Society bumped him just on the line, that he put his head out and that’s how he won the Dewhurst (1984).
“He only won by an inch. Every trainer will tell you, you need luck,” he added.
“Of course I regretted retiring. But as it turned out, I sold my yard and I had something to live on.
“I looked after the pictures at the Jockey Club Rooms in Newmarket for 16 years, but I’ve had cancer and just had a big heart operation. I’m feeling fit and I’m a million dollars, but not for doing any work.”
He is still content to do things in his own, unconventional way, however.
“I’m just gardening now. My doctor said to me, ‘no gardening for six weeks’. I waited about three days!” he laughed.
“I’m great, but I tell you what, I’ve been very, very lucky. I tell people so much is down to luck.
“I was very, very lucky to have an amazing wife. I was very lucky to meet her, lucky to have the career I had, lucky to have trained some good horses. I feel extremely lucky.”
The Oaks has produced many brilliant winners during its long history – yet the 2007 renewal created two points of argument that are, while more anecdotal than empirical, equally worthy of note.
Light Shift is arguably one of the most aptly-named winners and received the biggest reception for a horse ever to run in the race since its inception in 1779.
Sir Henry Cecil, saddling his eighth and final victory in the middle leg of the fillies’ Triple Crown, felt the warmth of the crowd. He never quite understood the adulation he was afforded or the esteem in which he was held by his adoring public, and the reception he received moved him to tears.
For this moment encapsulated, to the public at least, a glimmer of light at the end of the trainer’s dark tunnel.
“I think a lot of people thought this was his last hurrah, but little did we know it was the beginning,” said his wife, Lady Jane Cecil.
Cecil, a modest man, had almost effortlessly scaled unimaginable heights in a career which stared in 1969 and brought 25 domestic Classic winners and 10 trainers’ titles.
Top-class victories flowed with regularity. Wollow, Kris, Le Moss, Ardross, Slip Anchor, Oh So Sharp, Reference Point, Indian Skimmer, Bosra Sham, Oath and Reams Of Verse – things came easily to Cecil for so long.
What followed is well documented. The removal of Sheikh Mohammed’s horses from the Warren Place yard in 1995, the death of his twin brother David, from cancer, five years later and the breakdown of his second marriage, all took a heavy toll.
“The joy went out of his life and the focus went,” said Lady Jane, “particularly after David’s death. He took it very badly.”
In 2005 he saddled just a dozen winners and his stable of 200 horses shrank to barely 50.
A year later, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer.
Life’s fates then turned once more, with Light Shift providing the most significant winner in his career.
Musidora winner Passage Of Time was the 9-4 favourite. Also trained by Cecil, she was expected to give him his 24th Classic winner.
However, she had not wintered as well as Light Shift and had an issue with her throat, which came to light after the race, in which she finished eighth, over 21 lengths behind her stablemate.
But the diminutive Light Shift, a daughter of Kingmambo, who had broken her maiden at the third attempt the previous September, was no forlorn second-string.
She came to Epsom on a hat-trick, having opened her Classic season with a win at Newbury, followed by a comfortable Cheshire Oaks victory under Ted Durcan.
“She was so straightforward,” said her jockey. “She was neat but was extremely well-made and light on her feet.
“She was a lovely-moving filly with a lovely action and a lovely mind on her. She was a genuine, straightforward filly.
“Although she was a little bit antsy, there was no malice in her. She was one of those fillies who didn’t like hanging around or being held up in her regime. She loved getting on with it.
“She was a little bit headstrong as a two-year-old, but she learned to settle and was just a really sweet filly.”
He added: “I was very taken with her in the Cheshire Oaks. She gave the leaders a good head-start and picked them up in a matter of strides. On paper it says she won by a neck, but literally she won under hands and heels. I never had to give her a flick. She glided around Chester and showed an electric turn of foot.
“Once she won like that, we all headed to Epsom very excited, as she had every attribute you needed.
“She glided under the radar. At Epsom, I was mindful that I didn’t want to get her in a ruck, because she wasn’t over-big and it might light her up.
“But we had a lovely, smooth run around. The only thing was I was left in front too early. I thought by following Mick Kinane on Four Sins, who I fancied to run a big race, I was in a good position.
“I thought that filly would take me a bit longer into the straight, but she emptied quickly and I was left in front a bit sooner than I wanted.”
The Aidan O’Brien-trained Peeping Fawn, closed the gap significantly to half a length, but Martin Dwyer’s mount could not quite reel Durcan in.
“Aidan’s filly turned out to be brilliant. His filly may have lacked a little experience on Oaks day, but she showed she was smart afterwards and won four Group One races on the trot,” said Durcan.
“I think anyone who didn’t have an interest in the race wanted Henry to win with one or the other.
“Anyone who was neutral, or who loved racing, they were willing Henry to win the race. When one of the fillies won, everyone’s goodwill and emotion was aimed towards Henry, and rightly so.
“It was his day and that was right. One of the nicest things was the Niarchos family and Juddmonte had stood by Henry in his lean times. So for him to have a runner for both of them, and for one of them to win, it just added up to a magical day.
“It was my first Classic and an honour for a rider of my stature to win one. I totally appreciate how fortunate I was, as there were a lot better riders in the weighing room who were not fortunate enough to win a Classic.”
Light Shift’s Epsom win and marriage to Jane (nee McKeown) gave Cecil the fillip he needed.
“You’d never see Henry cry, but he shed a few tears that day with the reception he got, although he didn’t understand the public’s affection,” said Lady Jane.
“Light Shift wasn’t very big, but she was very brave. She was actually a bit of a worrier, so to do it on a day like that was incredible.
“It was a completely amazing day. That was the race that mattered most to him, because that was really the start of things.
“He was amazed by that response. Things from then, they started to get better and it bloomed from there.
“I was there when Love Divine (2000) won and that was a wonderful day and we had lots of well-wishers. I thought ‘this is marvellous’, and that we’d never get that feeling again, but when we arrived back after Light Shift, it was a whole different feeling, it went to a whole other level. You could just feel the love.
“People were willing Henry to win, because he’d had all that treatment and he didn’t look that good.
“He was so pleased for the Niarchos family, who were lovely to work for. Maria (Niarchos) was so delighted, as much for Henry as the horse.
“And Ted was a good rider. He knew her well and was a very good jockey and a very nice person. Henry liked him as a person and as a jockey, so he was delighted for Ted as well.”
Cecil’s story was yet to have its glorious final chapter written. The unbeaten Frankel, who gave him his final Classic in 2011, with a memorable 2000 Guineas romp, is the most famous of his training success stories.
Cecil bore his illness and treatment so gracefully, with such humility and dignity right until the end, which came eight months after Frankel’s retirement in October 2012 following victory in the Champion Stakes.
Lady Jane will keep a wistful eye on the action at Epsom this weekend with Soul Sister, a daughter of Frankel, bidding to give Frankie Dettori another big win in what is set to be his final season as a jockey. He also partners Arrest, another son of Frankel, in the Derby.
“Both races are very interesting this year, especially with the Frankel factor,” she added. “It’s just incredible really. That is the saddest thing, that Henry is not around, because he would have loved to have trained any of the Frankels,” she said.
“It’s so lovely to have the interest. There’s the Frankie factor as well. If it was Frankie’s last Oaks and Derby, winning either would be a great send-off, wouldn’t it?”
Who knows, it might even get the same hearty reception accorded to Light Shift, Durcan and the imperious Cecil.
Covey is likely to run in either the Jersey Stakes or the Britannia at Royal Ascot following his easy win at Haydock on Saturday.
The John and Thady Gosden-trained colt has now won three of his four races following a narrow defeat on his debut.
Unraced at two, he is rapidly making up for lost time but after Frankie Dettori admitted to being run away with on the gallops with him last year, what has pleased connections most is that he now saves his energy for the track.
A 10lb rise from the handicapper means he is now rated 100.
“We were all happy at Haydock and I was expecting the sort of rise he’s got,” said Barry Mahon of owners Juddmonte.
“We’ve got a couple of weeks to decide, but I would imagine he’ll go for either the Jersey or the Britannia.
“He’s a beautiful horse, an unbelievably good physical specimen and we always felt he could be a very good horse last year but he just didn’t give himself a chance, as Frankie said he was a bit of a boyo.
“But in every run on the track this season, he hasn’t put a foot wrong in temperament or performance, in every run he’s turned up and behaved well. He’s grown up a lot and we’re on the right path, hopefully he can turn into a nice horse.
“He won under hands and heels at Haydock. We’ve been a little bit behind all year but he’s catching up now, it just takes a while to get where you need to be.”
Peter Schiergen’s Tunnes will fly the flag for Germany in Dahlbury Coronation Cup at Epsom on Friday.
The four-year-old has an eye-catching pedigree as he is out Tijuana, the dam of 2021 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Torquator Tasso.
Tunnes was a juvenile winner and then had a successful three-year-old season as he claimed the German St Leger and the Grosser Preis von Bayern in fairly quick succession as autumn approached.
He then jetted to Tokyo to take on the Japan Cup, a Grade One race in which he finished ninth of 18 to wrap up his season.
This year he kicked off his campaign in the Carl Jaspers Preis, a Group Two held at Cologne, and came home second over the same one-mile-four-furlong trip he will encounter at Epsom on the first day of the Derby meeting.
“He is good, he will run on Friday,” said Schiergen.
“He had a break and after the break he started and was second, he was good, he’s improved and I’m happy in the mornings.
“It was good enough for the first time, he wasn’t 100 per cent, he has improved and should be right now for Epsom.”
Should his Coronation Cup bid go to plan, there may be a return to British turf on the agenda for Tunnes, with the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot pencilled in for later in the season.
Schiergen said: “If he runs well,
we might plan to run him in the King George.”
Emily Upjohn makes her seasonal bow in the race and joint-trainer John Gosden feels the race should put the filly spot on for her targets later in the summer as last year’s Oaks runner-up returns to Epsom.
“She’s been fine but like a lot of the fillies, after that false glimpse of spring in February, we then had it cold and wet and she went back into herself,” he told Nick Luck’s Daily podcast.
“She’s taken a long time to come ready but hopefully she’s ready now to run a nice race in the Coronation.
“The race will bring her on. For the older horses, the races are June onwards. We had a think about going to Dubai but chose not to which was the correct and wise decision given who won it (Equinox).
“It looks like a small, select, elite field and she’s a filly taking on the colts, but we want to get her back going and I think you’ll see a big improvement going into June and July.
“She showed brilliance early on last year then it all went wrong in the King George when a few of them, like Westover, over-raced.
“She then had a long time off to come back on Champions Day, when she won with great authority. Right now she’s on the way to getting back up to that level, but I think the race will be key to bringing her on.”
Royal Ascot’s Hardwicke Stakes is still the aim for Brigadier Gerard Stakes winner Hukum, who handed Derby winner Desert Crown his first defeat at Sandown earlier this month.
Owen Burrows was happy to report the Shadwell-owned six-year-old returned to his Lambourn yard in fine fettle after his first run for 11 months.
Hukum had three screws inserted in a hind leg after suffering an injury when winning last year’s Coronation Cup at Epsom.
Having made a remarkable recovery, under a fine ride from Jim Crowley, he produced a telling burst to collar Desert Crown and take the Group Three 10-furlong prize by half a length.
“Hukum thankfully trotted up sound the next morning all good and had a little canter on Saturday. That was the most important bit,” said Burrows.
Victory over the trip opens a few more doors for the year-older brother to the brilliant Baaeed. Hukum had won over a mile and three-quarters in the past, although he has predominately raced over a mile and a half.
Burrows added: “He is trip versatile. We are just going to be in the lap of the gods to see what sort of summer we have this year.
“He doesn’t need it soft, but he does need it safe, good ground.
“Jim has always made that point and I’m in agreement. Talking to (Shadwell owner) Sheikha Hissa the following day, she was in agreement as well.
“I’ve not got him in the Prince of Wales’s or an Eclipse, but as you know well with the British summertime, if the forecast is a bit wet, we might just have to have a conversation.”
Should ground conditions be favourable, there is the fascinating prospect of a clash with stablemate Anmaat, who won Monday’s Prix d’Ispahan at ParisLongchamp.
“We have Anmaat in both the Prince Of Wales’s and the Eclipse, so it would be a nice problem to have,” he added.
“We will be watching the weather with Hukum and I always said the Brigadier Gerard would be a prep for the Hardwicke, but if the Hardwicke turned up good to firm, we might have to wait.
“There is the Eclipse at the beginning of July and a race in France in early July over a mile and a half. There is the King George at the end of July, but we will be on a constant weather watch.”
Caernarfon is reminding Jack Channon of some of the great fillies of his past ahead of her tilt at the Betfred Oaks at Epsom on Friday.
The daughter of Cityscape provided Channon’s father Mick with success in the Montrose Fillies’ Stakes last autumn and it would be somewhat fitting if she was to build on her 1000 Guineas fourth and provide the younger Channon with a Classic victory in his first season since taking over the training licence at West Ilsley.
As well as assisting his father, Channon has previously spent time working for Clive Brittain, and having been encouraged by what he has seen from Caernarfon since Newmarket, is now looking forward to her next big-race assignment, believing she compares favourably with some former top-class fillies.
“We’re really excited and she ran an absolute belter in the 1000 Guineas,” said Channon.
“I’ve been very lucky to have been around some very good fillies in the shape of Rizeena and obviously some of dad’s very good fillies – Samitar, Queen’s Logic, Music Show, Nahoodh and all those – and it’s very exciting to have one again. They are very hard to come by, but she gives me a similar feel to some of those good ones.”
Caernarfon was staying on strongly in the closing stages of the 1000 Guineas but will now have to prove her stamina as she takes the leap up to a mile and a half on the Downs.
However, Channon has always felt she would benefit from tackling further than a mile and is quietly confident she will take the challenge of the Oaks in her stride.
He continued: “Her work has taken a step up since Newmarket and she did a wonderful piece of work on Friday that has got everyone very excited. We’re quietly hopeful she stays.
“We felt going into the Guineas she would benefit from going up to a mile and a quarter. It’s one of those where we don’t know if she will stay a mile and a half but she has all the assets to and she looks a stayer physically, even if her pedigree doesn’t reflect that.
“The way she runs and the way she races will say there is a chance and she looks to have improved a bundle since the Guineas.
“Her work has improved immeasurably and her well-being and her coat and everything else, I couldn’t be happier with. We’re excited to give it a whirl.”
Highfield Princess is fully on course for the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot following her good return to action at York.
John Quinn’s stable star gave best to the match-fit Azure Blue in the 1895 Duke of York Stakes, but nevertheless ran a fine race to finish second, beaten only half a length.
It is a result that gives hope the six-year-old can replicate the blistering form she showed last season when she entered the winner’s enclosure on five occasions, picking up a hat-trick of Group One contests in the process.
The daughter of Night Of Thunder has shown her versatility over the years and although returning over six furlongs on the Knavesmire, she will drop back to the stiff five furlongs of the King’s Stand when appearing at the Royal meeting next month.
“She’s in grand nick and has come out of York fine,” said Quinn.
“She will go to the King’s Stand at Royal Ascot next, all being well.”
It is 20 years since Aussie speedball Choisir did the King’s Stand/Jubilee Stakes double, but although holding entries for both sprinting Group Ones at the showpiece fixture, Quinn is unsure if his flying mare will attempt to become just the second horse along with Blue Point to achieve that rare feat since.
“I don’t know,” he continued. “She’s in both races and we’ll jump the first hurdle and she will be in the other race if we so decided. Tuesday is the aim.”
Cavalier Football Club’s Head coach Rudolph Speid says his team has no intentions of resting on their laurels, after edging reigning champions Harbour View 1-0, in the first leg of their Jamaica Premier League (JPL) semi-final tie at Sabina Park on Monday.
Orlando Russell’s second goal against Harbour View and third overall this season, proved the all-important strike that handed Speid’s youthful team the advantage ahead of Sunday’s return-leg at the same venue.
“What we tried to do was not to concede any goals and take what we got and that is what happened. But I think we need one or two more goals to be safe and so we will be pushing for that in the next game,” Speid said.
After playing out a goalless first half where both teams had their moments, Cavalier found the go-ahead goal seven minutes after the interval through a well-worked build up orchestrated by Nickache Murray.
Murray floated a delicate pass over the top, which was headed across by Jerome McCleary for Orlando Russell to apply the finishing touch at the far post.
Harbour View came close to pulling level in the 62nd minute, but Cristojaye Daley’s well-struck left-footed drive from a distance, was equally well-saved by Vino Barclett, diving full-stretch to his right, in goal for Cavalier.
Cavalier could have extended their lead in the latter stages when the league’s leading scorer Collin Anderson got away from Harbour View’s defenders but fired a right-footed effort straight at goalkeeper Romario Palma, despite having enough space and time to set and shoot.
For Harbour View’s Head coach Ludlow Bernard, its back to the training pitch to assess their mistakes and make the necessary adjustments for the second leg.
“We ran out of ideas up top and so we paid the price for it. We didn’t capitalize on what was probably a tired Cavalier team, but we have some things that we clearly need to look because we are now under one-nil, so we just have to reset and come again,” Bernard stated.
Meanwhile, the second semi-final between Arnett Gardens and Mount Pleasant remain evenly poised, as they played out an entertaining 2-2 stalemate in a game that ensured the large crowd did not leave disappointed.
The inform Leonardo Rankin (17th) and Trivante Stewart (63rd), got the goals for the St Ann-based Mount Pleasant, who went in front twice, but Shai Smith (30th) and Fabian Reid (66th), ensured Arnett Gardens, remained in contention.
It was mostly end-to-end action from the start, but it was Mount Pleasant that drew first blood when Rankin deflected Demario Phillips’s weighted corner kick past Eric Edwards in goal for Arnett Gardens.
However, the “Junglists” were back on level terms 13 minutes later when Ajuma Johnson’s weighted cross found the head of the rangy Smith, who made no mistakes in guiding past Shaquan Davis.
As the score remained unchanged at the break, both teams against came out firing on the resumption, throwing their weight in attack, but again, it was Mount Pleasant that found the go-ahead goal three minutes past the hour mark.
Stewart outsprinted two defenders before squeezing a right-footer past the advancing Edwards to register his 16th goal this season.
But the celebrations were short-lived, as Reid also registered his 16th goal of the season when he utilized a cheeky first touch to create space for a right-footed drive that had Davis well beaten.
Both teams continued to create chances and could have secured the advantage, but for a lack of composure in the final third.
Still, both Paul “Tegat” Davis of Arnett Gardens and his counterpart Theodore “Tappa” Whitmore, agreed that it was a fair result, as it is anybody’s game come Sunday.
Mystical Power, the first foal of Champion Hurdle-winning mare Annie Power by superstar sire Galileo, made the perfect start to his career at Ballinrobe.
Sent off at the prohibitive odds of 2-5, he justified favouritism with the minimum of fuss despite perhaps lacking the fireworks that many expected.
Racing in the colours of J P McManus, the four-year-old is owned in a partnership along with Mrs John Magnier and Mrs Susannah Ricci, the latter also owned Annie Power.
Annie Power only suffered two defeats in a 17-race career under rules, with her two reverses coming at the Cheltenham Festival. The first when second to More Of That in the 2014 World Hurdle and then the following year in the Mares’ Hurdle when falling at the last with the race at her mercy.
In 2016 she ran in the Champion Hurdle, beating My Tent Or Years and she went on to follow up in the Aintree Hurdle before retirement.
Trained by Willie Mullins, just like Annie Power, Patrick Mullins had to get serious in the closing stages before Mystical Power pulled clear to beat Perfect Nelson by two and three-quarter lengths.
Patrick Mullins said: “I’m happy with that. His mother was all out to win in Galway first time and improved significantly, so he’s equalled his mother this far anyway.
“He’s a horse that has improved. The more work he’s got the more he’s improved and I think he’ll continue to improve. He got to the front very easily but I don’t think he did an awful lot when he got there.
“He’ll win plenty of races and I have to commend Ballinrobe on the fabulous job they’ve done with the ground here. We weren’t afraid to bring up a good horse like that. They do a super job and I hope they enjoyed seeing him here.
“He has been in Enda Bolger’s before coming to us and has done loads of jumping. Whether he goes for a winners’ bumper or maiden hurdle I don’t know, but he has lots of jumping done and jumps well.”
McManus’ racing manager Frank Berry said: “It was grand. He was a little bit green when he got to the front but you couldn’t have asked for anything more. He’ll tip away for the summer.”
Despite failing to secure qualification to the Pan American (PanAm) Games nor the World Championships, Jamaica's artistic gymnasts Tyesha Mattis and Kiara Richmon took heart from their respective performances at the just-concluded PanAm Gymnastics Championships in Medellin, Colombia.
Mattis, Richmon and newcomer Mya Absolam, all produced credible showings in a highly competitive environment at the three-day championships which ended on Sunday but were unable to break into a coveted top 12 position.
The England-born Mattis, who was Jamaica’s standout performer at last year’s event when she qualified for the World championships, expressed some disappointment that she wasn’t able to repeat the feat, as she was firmly set on getting to the PanAm Games in Chile and the World Championships in Belgium, later this year.
She placed 32nd overall with an all-around total of 44.500, after scoring 12.867 on vault, 10.533 on uneven bars, 10.733 on the balance beam and 10.367 for her floor routine.
"I was happy with parts of my performances, but I felt like I put a little bit too much pressure on myself to qualify and so I didn’t do as well as I would have liked to,” Mattis said shortly after competition.
However, the 24-year-old did find a few positive takeaways that she hopes to improve on ahead of next month’s Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in El Salvador, when she is next expected to parade her skills for the island.
“I managed to complete a 2 1/2 twist off beam again after not putting that out in competition for over four years, so I am super proud of myself in that regards as I am proving to myself that I can do more than I am limiting myself to,” she reasoned.
“I am more than capable, and I just need to trust that my body can do the work and again, not putting too much pressure on myself. I work so hard in the gym and when I really wanted to put out my best, I made a couple mistakes.
“But I have to remember I’m only human and I can learn from some of my mistakes and so I am really looking forward to a better performance out in El Salvador in a couple weeks. Looking forward to trying some different routines there and putting out more of my skills as I know I have so much more up my sleeve and the more I compete internationally, the more confident I feel,” Mattis added.
For Richmon, who placed 36th overall with an all-around score of 42.866, just being able to represent Jamaica at the event, represents a remarkable achievement and another significant milestone in her budding career.
Her total includes score of 11.100 on vault, 10.233 on the uneven bars, 10.400 on the balance beam and 11.133 for her floor routine.
“I feel like I did my best with my performance at the championships, especially being that I only had two weeks to prepare. So, I am definitely proud that I was able to hit all four apparatus and getting to be here with the team,” Richmon shared.
With this being her first elite outing since 2019, the 21-year-old Fisk University student is eagerly looking forward to continuing her journey, as her unwavering determination, relentless work ethic and immense potential positions her as one of country’s gymnast to watch.
“It felt amazing, and this performance will definitely serve as motivation for me going forward, I just need to just trust my training and do not over work myself. I also need to have more confidence and belief in myself and hopefully on my next competition I can produce a stronger performance with cleaner routines,” the US-born Richmon said.
Meanwhile, Absolam, another England-born gymnast, had an all-around total of 39.533, after scoring 10.333, 10.033, 8.600, 10.567, on vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor, respectively. She placed 42nd overall.
On the male side, Canada-born Elel Wahrmann-Baker, was Jamaica’s top performer, placing 27th overall, with an all-around total of 72.301. Wahrmann-Baker had scores of 12.767 on floor, 13.067 on the pommel horse, 11.067 on rings, 13.100 on vault, 13.133 parallel bars and 10.167 on high bar.
Caleb Faulk placed 29th overall with scores of 12.300, 10.900, 12.400, 12.767, 11.9667 and 11.667 for an all-Around total of 72.001, while Matthew McClymont tallied 63.165 for 47th overall. His scores include 12.233, 9.133, 7.533, 12.733, 10.800 and 10.733.
Jamaica’s other representative Michael Reid only took on the pommel horse and parallel bars where he scored 11.933 and 12.467 for a total 24.400.
Paddy Twomey will drop Noche Magica back to the minimum distance at Royal Ascot after he was caught late on in the Marble Hill Stakes on Saturday.
A debut winner over five furlongs at Cork, Twomey stepped him up to six furlongs for the Group Three at the Curragh.
Having travelled much the best throughout the race, he hit the front inside the final furlong but could not pull clear and was eventually reeled in late on by Jessica Harrington’s Givemethebeatboys.
Twomey now feels the decision has been made for him regarding Ascot, and it will be back to five furlongs for the Norfolk Stakes rather than the six of the Coventry.
“He won well over five in Cork and he shows us that blistering speed,” said Twomey.
“The Marble Hill was a fact-finding mission. He travelled and did everything right. He got to the front and just got nutted at the death.
“His mother (Pious Alexander) is a half-sister of Dandy Man and the family is all speed. I’d say we will go for the Norfolk.
“I was the most disappointed man at the Curragh but going forward, he probably did me a favour. I would have run him in the Coventry if he had won, but now we will go for the Norfolk.”
Andrea Atzeni partnered Angers to an impressive victory in the Mehl-Mulhens-Rennen at Cologne on Monday.
Atzeni, who now rides as a freelance, teamed up with Mario Baratti, who is based in France, to win the German equivalent of the 2000 Guineas and deny Charlie Johnston and Ioritz Mendizabal with Finn’s Charm in second.
Angers had only won one of his six starts in France, and was third to Jean-Claude Rouget’s French Guineas fifth Valimi on his most recent outing.
Finn’s Charm attempted to make all under Mendizabal, with Roger Varian’s previously unbeaten Dragon Icon and Benacre, a stablemate of Finn’s Charm, within touching distance.
The leader briefly looked to have slipped the field before Atzeni brough Angers with a powerful run down the outside and he went on to win by six lengths.
Dhangadhi was third, just ahead of Benacre and Dragon Icon.
“He’s a lovely, big horse and ran very well in France the last day,” Atzeni told Wettstar.
“He gave me a nice feel going down to the start and his trainer Mario Baratti has done a great job to keep him spot on for this race, as it’s never easy to travel a horse to a different country.
“He looked the best horse in the paddock and he was by far the best horse in the race.”
Anmaat secured his first Group One success when leading home a British one-two in the Prix d’Ispahan at ParisLongchamp.
The five-year-old progressed rapidly throughout an unbeaten 2022 which culminated in a Group Two success in the Prix Dollar at the same track on Arc weekend.
And following a pleasing return behind Adayar in the rearranged Gordon Richards Stakes at Newmarket, the Owen Burrows-trained runner showed his liking for the French capital once again on Monday afternoon.
Ridden with patience by Jim Crowley in the 10-furlong contest as David Simcock’s Light Infantry dictated terms on the front end from Joseph O’Brien’s Buckaroo, Anmaat was asked to go through the gears and deliver his challenge when angled out by his rider in the home straight.
But with Light Infantry and Buckaroo refusing to lie down, plus home contenders Erevann and Facteur Cheval quickening along with Anmaat, Burrows’ gelding had to pull out all the stops to claim gold in a fantastic five-way dash for the winning post, with Light Infantry holding on for the silver medal.
Crowley told Equidia: “It was a good finish. It was a bit messy early on, I thought I was a little bit far back. He picked up very well, he’s improving all the time, It’s lovely to win a Group One.
“I was a little bit concerned about the quicker ground but he’s handled it fine. I’m hoping he will improve and he will be even better with more cut in the ground as well.”
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