WINNIPEG, Manitoba, CMC- Trinidadian jockey Ronald Ali won the feature and intensified his rise in the jockeys’ standings while defending champion jockey Antonio Whitehall of Barbados stepped up his challenge for the lead on Tuesday at the Assiniboia Downs racetrack in Canada.
Ali logged back-to-back wins in the middle of the seven-race card, including the CAN $50 000 featured, Debutante Stakes to carry his aggregate to 19 for the season – which opened on May 20 and closes on September 24 – and he is now in a two-way tie for fourth with Barbadian Renaldo Cumberbatch at the main racing facility in central Canada.
Whitehall also landed back-to-back wins late on the card, bringing his total for the season to 24—two behind current leading jockey Prayven Badrie of Trinidad & Tobago.
Ali opened his account when he piloted the 3-1 bet, Gee I’m Foxy, to a commanding win in the Debutante Stakes, the third race on the card, over five furlongs for two-year-old fillies.
I’m Foxy broke inward and moved to a short lead on the inside before she extended in the final straight and drew away from her four challenges to clock one minute, 01.06 seconds.
Ali then guided the odds-on second favorite, Ice Storm, to a win by 4-1/4 lengths in the CAN $20 000 maiden particular weight fourth race over one mile for maidens, three years old and upward.
Ice Storm had wide speed to challenge the lead early and drifted wider on the back straight, extending before Ali brought the four-year-old grey gelding four wide in the final turn and 10-wide in the stretch. He kept his mount to task to finish in 1 min, 43.45 secs.
Whitehall then got into the frame when he drove the odds-on favorite, Mechanic Susie, to a win by 1-1/2 lengths in the CAN $18 640 allowance fifth race over six furlongs for Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North and South Dakota-bred fillies and mares, three years old and upward, that have not won CAN $14 399 once this year.
The three-time champion jockey had Mechanic Susie well placed on the inside early and advanced her three-wide between horses on the final turn. The four-year-old, dark bay filly rallied determinedly on the outside before taking over in the middle of the final straight and extending to clock 1:13.28.
Whitehall followed up when he steered the 9-2 choice Poderoso Equs to a three-quarters-of-a-length win in the CAN $10 400, claiming the sixth race over one mile for three-year-olds and upward who have not won since January 23 or never won four races.
The Barbadian jockey got Poderoso Equs to save ground through the first half of the race and then advance on the outside in the final turn before rallying the nine-year-old chestnut gelding to take over late to finish in 1:43.25.
Caribbean jockeys swept all the races on the card again, with 2022 Jamaican champion jockey Dane Dawkins and the Barbadian duo of Cumberbatch and Shavon Belle grabbing wins.
Cumberbatch won the first race aboard the 8-1 chance Cajun Berti, Dawkins is now seventh in the standings on 13 wins after he won the second race on the 9-1 chance Curly Esa, and Belle won the final race on the card astride the 5-1 chance Moon Connection – which is trained by Barbadian Devon Gittens – to get his fifth win for the season.
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