Boxing Day could be one of the most defining days in the career of the Sir Charles Williams-owned eight-year-old gelding Apostle.
The Andrew Nunes-trained racehorse will be seeking his second Victor Chandler Stakes & Trophy success and a victory in this event will see him accumulate half a million dollars in earnings.
Apostle has an outstanding record going into the race with $474 739 from 37 starts, decorated with 14 victories.
Ever since he made his local debut back in 2006 and rocketed to stardom a year later, Apostle has been a crowd favourite, commanding respect and admiration from spectators.
On the track itself he has been a destructive force, winning every major race with the exception of the Gold Cup, which has eluded him on five occasions. Two third-place finishes are his best performances in the prestigious race.
One of those was in 2010 when he was upstaged by the Canadian Grade One route specialist Sterwins and the French-bred Grade One miler Bribon.
His résumé presently looks a duplicate of the great Coo Bird’s, who like Apostle, won every major race apart from the Gold Cup.
In 2007, Apostle was denied a shot at the Barbados Triple Crown as his connections, then Elias Haloute and Sir Charles, opted to keep him indoors for the second leg – the Midsummer Creole Classic over 1 800 metres.
He took the other two legs of that series – the Barbados Guineas over 1 570 metres by three-quarters of a length and the Barbados Derby over 2 000 metres by two and a half lengths.
Apostle then went on to take the coveted Horse-of-the-Year prize.
An analysis of his career shows six wins each at 1 570 and 1 800 metres respectively and two over 2 000 metres.
Some of his more popular victories were the 2011 Val Gale Cup, the 2009 and 2010 Coolmore “Home Of Champions” Stakes & Trophy and the Victor Chandler Stakes & Trophy in 2008 over 1 570 metres.
Ironically, going into this year’s Boxing Day event on December 26, his last victory at the 1 570 metres trip was in the very same event back in 2008.
This time, he will square off against two emerging stars in the speedy Shared Adventure and Discreetwon.
Apostle has encountered challenges from imported Pure Temptation, Daylight Express, John Brian and Dancin David, while the local contenders ranged from Bouncebak, Areyoutalkintome, Zoom and Show Me The Money, with the last two set to do battle one more time.
