WINNIPEG, Manitoba, CMC – Another day and another dominant performance from Caribbean jockeys – this time led by the Barbadian duo of defending champion Antonio Whitehall and emerging Rachaad Knights – on Tuesday at the Assiniboia Downs racetrack in Canada.
Whitehall, a three-time Assiniboia champion, and Knights booted home two winners apiece on the seven-race card that featured six wins for Caribbean jockeys, with leader Prayven Badrie of Trinidad & Tobago and Shavon Belle, another Barbadian, also landing wins.
Badrie leads the jockeys’ championship with 12 wins for the season, which opened on May 20 and closed on September 17.
The two wins jump-started the season for Whitehall, currently the No. 1 jockey on the earnings list, and he is tied for second on nine wins with compatriot Damario Bynoe. In comparison, Knights now have four wins, and he is tied for sixth with another T&T jockey, Sven Balroop.
Whitehall got into the frame with a commanding win by 6-1/4 lengths aboard the 3-2 bet East Coast Cowgirl in the CAN $13 700, claiming the third race over 1 100 meters on the dirt course and featuring fillies and mares three years old and upward that have never won three races.
He put East Coast Cowgirl to stalk from the outside and advanced three wide on the turn before he produced the three-year-old bay filly to challenge for the lead in the final straight, and she drew off from the eighth pole to finish in one minute, seven seconds flat.
Whitehall returned to grab a win by 3-3/4 lengths astride the odds-on favorite L.M. Tucker in the CAN $20 100 maiden particular weight fifth race over 1 100 meters on the dirt and featuring Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, and South Dakota-bred maidens, colts and geldings three years old and upward.
He got L.M. Tucker to force the pace from the inside, and the three-year-old, dark bay gelding extended in the final straight and drew away to clock 1 min, 07.25 secs.
Knights had notched his first win when he guided the even-money favorite Maclean’s Bella to a comfortable 5-1/2 lengths score in the CAN $10 300, claiming the second race for fillies and mares three years old and upward that have never won four races, running 1 100 meters on the dirt.
Maclean’s Bella stumbled mildly at the break, and Knights got the five-year-old bay mare to force the pace from the outside before she drifted six wide into the home straight and extended to finish in 1:06.85.
Knights got his second win when he steered the 5-1 chance Prairie Drifter to a 1-3/4 length score in the CAN $10 100, claiming the fifth race for three-year-olds and upward who have never won two races, running 1 100 meters on the dirt.
He got Prairie Drifter to press the pace on the inside from early and forced the issue into the turn before the four-year-old bay gelding extended himself late in the turn, drew away, and proved there was something left at the finish for a time of 1:07.60.
Badrie had opened the day’s racing with a comfortable win by 5-1/4 lengths in a time of 1:06.60 on the odds-on favorite Dazzling Gold in the CAN $10 000 claiming first race over 1 100 meters on the dirt and featuring Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, and South Dakota-bred three-year-olds and upward that have never won three races or have not won this year.
Belle got only his second win for the season when he steered the 9-5 favorite No Magic to a 1-3/4 lengths win in a time of 1:07.60 in the CAN $20 000 maiden particular weight fourth race over 1 100 meters on the dirt and featuring Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, and South Dakota-bred maidens, colts and geldings three-year-olds and upward.
Canadian jockey Timothy Tarasenco, 59, who returned to racing last season after a 24-year break, eased the grip of the Caribbean jockeys on the card with a tidy win in the final race on Catch the Dream.
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