Canadian-bred American Tap, under steady guidance from jockey Tevin Foster, earned her first victory on Jamaican soil with powerful debut performance that left rivals struggling in the $1.25 million Nigel B Nunes Memorial Cup feature at Caymanas Park on Saturday.

Much like she did at exercise, the six-year-old bay mare, who is one of six overseas horses expected to line up in the lucrative Mouttet Mile in December, displayed pace and class in a comfortable 4-3/4 lengths win, in the three-year-olds and upward Non-Restricted Overnight Allowance contest for over five furlongs (1,000m) straight.

Conditioned by Howard Jaghai, American Tap, running from the wide number 13 draw in the 15-horse field, and quickly match strides with Ultimate Machine (Dane Dawkins), True Bravado (Phillip Parchment), and Press Conference (Richard Henry), in the early exchanges.

By the time the sort themselves out and came across the dummy rails, the Tapiture -American Castle mare, American Tap proved the superior speed, and with very little reminders from Foster, she briskly pulled away and powered home to justify the 1-2 favouritism.

American Tap stopped the clock in an eye-catching 58.2 seconds, after splits of 23.1 and 46.0 seconds, and the fact that she literally cantered the latter stages of the contest, all but indicates her credentials for what could be a fruitful outing in Jamaica.

Press Conference, Ring Charmer (Roger Hewitt) and Duke (Allan Maragh) completed the frame.

American Tap completed a double for Foster, who earlier piloted the Anthony Nunes-trained Captain Calico to victory in the seventh event.

Another in-form rider, Raddesh Roman, also had a double with Ricardo Brown’s KP Choice in the second event and From Sheer To Ben conditioned by Alford Brown in the ninth and final contest.