Today’s featured William Bill Marshall DFC SCM Memorial two-year-old Creole Classic Stakes and Trophy is a fairly wide open affair.
Named after Barbados’ most celebrated trainer, this year’s edition has attracted a full complement of 12 runners that will face the starter over 1 570 metres in this Grade I race for West Indian bred two-year-olds.
Of the lot, only three horses have entered winner’s enclosure before, namely Howulikedisname, Favourite Cat and Midnight Run, while others like Summer Again, Tachyon, and Mousetrap have all displayed encouraging signs.
Apart from the unbeaten Halle Rose, whose connections have opted to skip this race, it is hard to find a juvenile that has displayed that level of consistency. In this field that John D Chandler-owned and trained Howulikedisname will start as the favourite, based on having landed his first 1 570 metres attempt, the Sales Graduates Futurity Stakes in his second career start.
He then came under plenty pressure when salvaging second position behind Halle Rose in a sprint event. While he will be more comfortable at this trip it would not be one-way traffic, having previously earned that hard-fought victory by defeating Summer Again and Tachyon. The winner will likely come from one of these three. Summer Again disappointed last effort when he was heavily favoured by the punters, and maybe the track proved his undoing.
Expect a better performance this time around. The same statement applies for Tachyon, who like the above, failed to fire on the soft surface that existed last outing. He, too, must be considered today.
Mousetrap has been going the direction of the winner’s circle with every start, improving her positions and lowering the margins of defeat with her every attempt. She came perilously close last start when going under by three-quarters of a length to Poetic Licence in the Cruise Missile allotted weights for maidens over 1 000 metres. The burning question is can she improve further on the abovementioned sequence and cop the top spot.
Stablemate Double Jeopardy has hit the board in two of his three tries and he could be around at the finish again. The others, who should not be written off at this early stage, will need to run out of their skins to turn the tables on the more fancied, including Favourite Cat who knows what it feels like to finish ahead of the more fancied Howulikedisname as she steamed to a comfortable 3 1/2 lengths success n the Caribbean Horse Kindergarten Stakes and Trophy Condition race over 1 100 metres.
He then threw a bad effort, finishing last in a sprint event. Midnight Run has a pair of fifth- place efforts after his maiden success in the 1 000 metres Junior Kadooment Condition race and it will be hard to separate him from Favorite cat. Lady Dancer ran well in her debut race and is now stretching out for the first time. Danny Boy cut early fractions in his only try before fading, while Super Heights returns from injury, and My Man Gone West can use some more time. Bugatti makes his debut here but should not be ignored.
