Jockeys produce title race of the ages

THE YEAR that was 2024 was interesting for the sport of kings in many respects.

There was controversy, there were special races, special horses, but as interesting as anything else, there were two jockeys who made the season anything but normal.

Before Raddesh Roman and Tevin Foster made the jockeys’ title their own affair, wowing crowds with three, four, and even a six-timer somewhere in the mix, there were some unfortunate incidents.

In April, the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC) amended Rule 44, giving stewards the ‘discretion’ to abandon races which do not go off within five minutes of advertised post time.

And as if by providence, whatever feared outcome there is, will almost inevitably come, furious trainers attempted to storm one of two stewards’ rooms and the JRC box at Caymanas Park.

The trainers were up in arms after two races were abandoned.

The issue was over betting, the lifeblood of the sport, and Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Ltd (SVREL), organisers of horse racing at Caymanas Park, say it sees an uptick of up to $8 million when races are delayed for last-minute bettors.

The JRC was having none of it.

At the time, Foster had already secured 45 wins, and was comfortably 13 winners ahead of Roman. At the time, nobody would have predicted a jockeys’ title race that would shake the very foundations of what is possible.

Even if, on a Sunday in January, Roman rode six winners, adding to the two he won the day before to knock out eight in the space of a weekend, surely, the jockeys’ title race would not still be undecided by December.

Even before the issue among SVREL, the JRC, and trainers, the year had not shaped up well.

In March, the final race at Caymanas Park wasn’t run because AmTote, technology and services provider to the North American pari-mutuel wagering market, crashed.

By October, the hiccups at Caymanas Park had well and truly been forgotten but the bad days were still not behind horse racing’s organisers.

Heroes’ Day riot

On Heroes’ Day, only two races were run.

So invested had patrons become with the jockeys’ title race, that a steward’s decision that ultimately led to Raddesh Roman claiming a race that put him on win ahead of Foster after ding-dong battles in the month leading up to October, infuriated them.

They rioted, and racing had to end.

In fact, in early October Roman and Foster were tied on 99 winners, both threatened to go into the rarified air of surmounting three-figure winners in a calendar year.

But Caymanas Park were not done taking punches just yet, Tropical Storm Rafael making it difficult to keep patrons happy and horses running fast.

Then came the hoopla surrounding the Mouttet Mile, the US$250,000-race pitting Jamaica’s best horses against the best imports in a remarkable mashup of the well-to-dos and the more regular racing fans making for a day worthy of remembering.

While an American horse did do the damage in the end, it was still a victory for local horse racing, as the Jason DaCosta-trained FUNCAANDUN, locally based, outbattled Gulfstream Park invader, LEGACY ISLE with Robert Halledeen aboard.

LEGACY ISLE was favoured to claim the richest race in the Caribbean, especially given the credentials of Rohan Crichton, whose ROUGH ENTRY, won last year.

On the last race day of the year, the jockeys’ title race still had no decider.

Roman came into the race on December 28 with a 132-129 advantage, having already produced an incredible comeback in a year when both had long since dispatched the before-now illusory three-figure year.

Roman only rode one winner on the day and had to watch anxiously as Foster came to within half a length of tying things up in the very last race of the calendar.

Foster had earlier ridden a hat-trick to tie things up at 132 apiece before Roman inched ahead again aboard OIL MACHINE.

Then Roman uncharacteristically faltered aboard RIDEALLDAY, beaten into second by Christopher Mamdeen aboard UNSPUN by a short head.

Foster was second twice after that, and with no answer from Roman, fans were left at the edge of their seats right up until the lights flashed at the final post in the final race.

‘Twas truly the race of the ages and a very good way to cap off a season that, at times, threatened to go off the rails, but in the end, proved the moniker, the sport of kings.