adminSports Correspondent
MICA Point defied the odds to beat a strong field of nine runners on his way to winning the Guineas Trial Race held at Borrowdale Racecourse on Saturday. The horse, from the stable of Lisa Harris, tore the form book apart especially after the book makers had tipped either Supa Challenge, EverSoLucky, Atso’s Scheme and Tallie Two to gallop away with the top prize in this race.
Out of the blue, like lightning bolt, Mica Point struck, reducing pre-race favourites to ordinary runners.
At exactly 3:05pm the gates were pushed open releasing a strong field of 10 horses which quickly set off at an electrifying pace towards the finishing post.
Once off the blocks Supa Challenge quickly picked it up and assumed the pole position leading the next horse by a nose length.
At the 600m straight home stretch Mica Point announced his intention by forcing his way to the apex.
With Supa Challenge running all over the place Mica Point stood firm in front to comfortably cross the finishing line ahead of the rest of the field.
Such was the dominance of this horse in the last third, the straight home stretch, it displayed a terrific finishing pace to lead the chasing horse, Tallie Two, by three lengths.
Mica Point with jockey Denicious Smith on the irons covered the 1,600m long race in 1 minute 36.66 seconds.
The course record is held by Early of Surrey who took just 93.75 seconds carrying a load of 57.0kgs to cover the same distance in April 2012. In second position was Tallie Two ridden by jockey Brendon McNaughton from the stable of Alyson Wright.
EverSoLuck, one of the pre-race favourites, was demoted to third position, 1.25 lengths behind the second placed runner.
However, the horse was able to keep intact his 100 percent record of a place finish in every event it has taken part in so far. EverSoLucky has taken part in eight races to date.
The last placed runner to canter past the finishing post was Supa Challenge with jockey Kevin Derere directing the proceedings from the saddle.
The 2014 edition of the Guineas Trial Race clearly belonged to the rank outsiders. Once again they proved that ratings are nothing but just numbers. Atso’s Scheme for all his pre-race hype failed to keep up with the leaders. In the end he was forced to settle for fifth position.
For his efforts the winner collected $5,400 while the other placed runners got $1,800; $1,125 and $675.
The other feature race of the day, the Hachiman Sprint (1,100m) was won by On the Rock from the stable of Corne Spies. Jockey Fanie Chambers was calling the shots from the irons. Other positions went to Picalilly, Thriller In Manilla and Alula Borealis respectively
Meanwhile, a total of 13 horses have been accepted as nominees for the Fillies Classic Race to be held at Borrowdale Racecourse on Sunday, January 25.
The race will be over 1,600m and the stake money has been pegged at $9,000 to be shared among the winners and all the placed fillies in this race.
Five local based stables have lined up their best fillies for this year’s edition of the race.
The stable of Dave Willey has nominated Autumn Blossom who is rated (53).
Corne Spies, Champion Trainer for the Hachiman Sprint Race last Saturday, has opted to go for Auntumn J rated (60), Double Ridge (58),Purple Turtle (52), Snow Call (64), and What About Me (77).
EverSolucky (78), Longships who is not rated are the nominees from the yard of Gokhan Terzi alongside Latin Queen (56).
Trainer Bridget Stidolp has thrown into the hat Hollywood Babe who is rated (54) and Print The Rounds (66).
Alyson Wright has decided to go for Picalilly (88) and Tallie Two (80).
A total of 159 horses have been nominated for all the available slots in all the seven races to be held on the day.
Online Reporter