The colt War Eagle unleashed one of the most awesome Classic performances in Barbados thoroughbred racing history to win Saturday’s BBD$50,000 (US$25,000) Pinnacle Feeds Midsummer Classic as a 2-1 second favourite.
Ridden by N’Rico Prescod for champion trainer Victor Cheeseman, War Eagle – part-owned by West Indies batsman Kraigg Brathwaite - shot to the front approaching the final bend and accelerated to a titanic 19-length victory while scuppering the Triple Crown bid of Guineas winner Déjà vu.
In only his third lifetime start, War Eagle clocked two minutes, eight seconds for the nine-furlong trip on a slow Garrison Savannah turf chased by the 3-2 favourite Déjà vu, with Ollivander (3-1) a distant third.
“I knew he had the potential (to win) but I was surprised by the big margin of the win even though I was confident,” triumphant rider Prescod told SportsMax.TV.
Ollivander led out of the gates ahead of the Trinidad & Tobago-bred Edelweiss but quickly gave way to the 11-1 bet Conflictofinterest, who cruised into a clear lead.
War Eagle, meanwhile, had a troubled start as Prescod’s left foot had slipped out of the stirrups. He was near the back of the 12-horse field in 10th spot but he was able to re-insert and balance himself aboard the chestnut colt just over a furlong into the race.
Jockey Jarrel Beckles was three lengths in front aboard Conflictofinterest at the halfway stage, tracked by Ollivander and Déjà vu with the smoothly recovering War Eagle a further three lengths back in fourth.
Ollivander and Déjà vu flew past Conflictofinterest at the four-furlong marker while War Eagle gained steadily with a rail run.
Responding to a few left-hand cracks of the whip by the 22-year-old Prescod, War Eagle surged to the front and widened his lead by five lengths at the top of the homestretch.
Prescod eased his mount and began his celebration from the middle of the homestretch as War Eagle emphatically avenged his narrow loss to Déjà vu in last month’s Guineas.
“I was a bit far off the pace early and I started to panic a bit but I just kept it together and trusted the horse’s strength,” said Prescod after his second Classic triumph, having landed the 2019 Barbados Derby aboard 21-1 upset winner Nzinga just over 15 months ago.
Because War Eagle was among the least experienced in the field, trainer Cheeseman anticipated the colt’s improvement coming off his Guineas loss by a neck to Déjà vu three weeks earlier.
“He ran a bit green that day and we kept him fresh after the Guineas,” Cheeseman said.
“Remember, he hadn’t run for over a year before the Guineas and we knew he would be a far better horse for the Midsummer,” added Cheeseman, who was winning his third consecutive Midsummer Classic after scoring with Brave Star (2018) and Seventeenmillionus last year.
Cheeseman, the reigning Barbados champion racehorse trainer for a record seven years in a row, is now confident the K&C Stables-owned War Eagle, by Eagle’s Peak out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Stream Kid, can land the final leg of the Triple Crown, the Barbados Derby on December 26 (Boxing Day). “Oh yes, once he feels good on that day,” Cheeseman said.