ETOBICOKE, Ontario, CMC – Established jockey Rico Walcott logged a double, and Barbadian jockeys felt their presence on the nine-race card on Thursday at the Woodbine racetrack in Canada.
The 34-year-old Walcott had one of his best days in the saddle since moving from the province of Alberta on the Canadian west coast, where he was quickly the most dominant rider over the past 16 years at the now-defunct Northlands Park and recently opened Century Mile in the city of Edmonton.
Walcott, an eight-time champion jockey at Northlands and two-time champion jockey at Century Mile has only eight wins from 58 starts since the season started at Canada’s premier racing facility on April 22 after logging his second double.
Fellow Barbadians Desean Bynoe and Juan Crawford, the champion jockey three years ago at the nearby Fort Erie racetrack, also clocked wins.
Walcott had to earn his keep when he drove a 5-1 bet Aim for the Sky to victory by a neck in the CAN $55 000 starter optional claiming the fifth race over five furlongs on the inner turf course.
Aim for the Sky broke sharply and quickly cleared to set the pace. Still, the six-year-old chestnut gelding soon faced pressure from on the outside into the final turn before Walcott shook him free past the quarter pole and held him safe to the wire for a time of 57.88 seconds, a little off the track record, after he met another challenge in the stretch.
Walcott gave further proof of his skills later when he pushed 11-1 outsider Absolute Jewel to victory by a neck in the CAN $29 000, claiming the eighth race over seven furlongs on the all-weather track.
Absolute Jewel had to battle between runners for the front at the start, and Walcott drew his mount back to sit off the contesting leaders before they were scrubbed on the inside with 500 meters remaining.
Walcott produced the four-year-old bay filly at the top of the lane and wore down the front-running rival deep in the stretch for the win in one minute, 25.03 seconds.
Earlier, Bynoe started the day’s activities with a 1-3/4 lengths win aboard 3-1 chance Speedy Lynn in the CAN $40 200, claiming their first race over seven furlongs on the turf course.
He put Speedy Lynn in a stalking position along the rail near the rear down the backstretch. He angled outside, circling runners with 500 meters remaining before he got the five-year-old bay mare to pass foes seven deep, straightening out for the drive, finding her best stride in mid-stretch to draw away comfortably to finish in a time of 1 min, 23.89 secs.
Crawford followed up with a 1-1/2 lengths win that was easy at the end, astride 5-1 chance Hullabaloo in the CAN $51 000, claiming second race over 1 700 meters on the inner turf.
Hullabaloo took control from the start to clear the field into the first turn and was unchallenged down the backside before Crawford pressed the accelerator at the top of the lane, and the five-year-old chestnut gelding had enough left in reserve to hold safe to the wire in 1:46.16.
and then 