Rock 'A' Way hard to oppose

Orville Clarke,  Gleaner Writer

Having finished second in her three races to date, ROCK 'A' WAY should go one better in the 3-y-o maiden special for the Dr. Clifford Grey Memorial Cup over 1300 metres feature event at Caymanas Park, today.

Best of those efforts was her close second to MAMA BLOSSOM over 1400 metres on June 15, when beaten by three-quarter length.

The form of that race has been working out in that the third horse, TITANIC, came back to win very easily over 1500 metres in maiden company on Saturday in the fairly good time of 1:34:4.

Last time out on June 26, ROCK 'A' WAY was highly fancied to release the maiden certificate over 1600 metres, but ran smack into another improving filly, PRINCESS SHANIEL and had to settle for second.

She has worked well coming into this race, however, and with trainer Anthony Nunes fitting her with the visor today, will take a lot of beating with back-to-form champion jockey Dane Nelson riding her from the convenient mark of 52kg.

Looking around for the exact horse, three candidates come to mind - ETTU ORACLE, LEGENDARY PLEASURE and HUMBLE LION.

The Cleveland Mitchell-trained ETTU ORACLE, another lightly raced filly, caught the eye when finishing two lengths second to MARISHA STAR over 1400 metres on June 29. Now on the improve, she looks best equipped to chase home ROCK 'A' WAY, especially with Paul 'Country' Francis sticking with the ride.

Elsewhere on the 10-race programme, the overnight allowance race over 1820 metres promises to be quite competitive among the eight starters.

The field includes the two-turn specialists, RAGING PROSPECT and JAH LOVE, as well as DEO VOLENTE (working well) and the American colt ARGUMENT DONE.

to the wire

This quartet should ensure that the race goes down to the wire, but strictly at the weights, the Fitzroy Glispie-trained RAGING PROSPECT, who carries a mere 50kg for the services of in-form Dick Cardenas, should be able to topple rivals under these favourable conditions.

RACING PROSPECT lost few marks in defeat on June 8, when a close second to the front-running UPPA TUNE in the Ren Gonsalves Memorial Cup over 200 metres, and with the expected leaders CLASSIC BEAU and THERE GOES JUSTIN expected to falter from the final bend, it should come back to RAGING PROSPECT.

Other firm fancies on the card are AWESOME SENSATION to win the opening race over 1200 metres, MERU in the third, MADIBA in the fifth and MYSTIC MAGIC (working well) in the closing Track Price Plus Dig Out Handicap over the straight.