High-profile Barbadian jockey Rico Walcott produced a classy ride aboard red-hot favourite Alliford Bay, to win the co-feature CAN$50 000 Vancouver Sun Stakes at Hastings racetrackhere Monday.
The pair made all the running over the 6-1/2 furlong trip to beat the three-year-old and upward fillies and mares by three lengths in a time of one minute, 17.22 seconds.
For the Blaine Wright-trained four-year-old bay filly, it was her second added-money win in as many months after taking the Brighhouse Belles here last month.
Walcott broke Alliford Bay smartly and put her to the front to post decent splits of 22.78 seconds for the quarter and 46.40 for the half mile, with Touching Promise challenging from second and Yukon Bell and Curlish Figure in contention.
The frontrunner accelerated leaving the final turn, and there was no doubt about the result as Walcott drew off impressively in the stretch.
“She broke well, and every time I touched her with my stick she responded,” Walcott said afterwards.
There was no success, however, for the seven-time Northlands Park reigning champion in the other feature, the George Royal Stakes, as he finished one from last with 15-1 choice Silvertown.
Francis gets brace
Meanwhile, Jamaican Paul Francis landed a brace as Caribbean riders left their mark on the seven-race card at Assiniboia Downs in Edmonton on Monday.
The experienced rider won the day’s opener aboard 3-1 bet Lemonford before returning in the final race of the card to score with favourite Tactics.
Francis was just one of several Caribbean winners on the day, however, as fellow Jamaicans Romario Saunders and Tyrone Nelson, along with Barbadian Dario Dalrymple, all secured victories.
Dalrymple shone in Race 3 with favourite Tyler Bigo, making all the running with the seven-year-old bay gelding over five furlongs to get the better of the three-year-olds and upward by 4-3/4 lengths.
Saunders’s success came in Race 2 over five furlongs when he combined with 2-1 chance Ifiwantto, to beat the three-year-old and upward maidens by 2-1/4 lengths.
And Nelson tasted success over 5-1/2 furlongs in Race 6 with 6-1 choice Son Of Pearl, outlasting the three-year-olds and upward by 2-1/2 lengths. (CMC)
