MR SKILL (Omar Walker) scoring a runaway victory in last Saturday's eighth race at Caymanas Park. Trained by Wayne DaCosta and owned by DaCosta, Alfred Lee and Edmund Thomas, MR SKILL covered the 1200 metres distance in a fast 1:10.4. - Colin Hamilton/Freelance Photographer
TAMPA BAY, Florida (CMC):
Andrew Ramgeet rode one winner on Tuesday and Kirk Ziadie preserved the trainers' championship lead as Jamaican racing men maintained their prominence at the 2008/2009 Tampa Bay Downs meet.
Ramgeet steered the favourite Smart Rose to victory in the sixth race and although Ziadie went winless on the 10-race card, he remains the leading trainer approaching four weeks into the five-month long meet.
In the US$12,300 sixth race over seven furlongs, Ramgeet used skilful front-running tactics to score with Smart Rose, the 9-5 choice in a 10-horse field.
Filly well handled
The four-year-old filly was well handled by Ramgeet to set a quick pace in fractions of 22.58 and 45.06 for the first two quarters.
Trained by Dale Bennett, Smart Rose straightened for the homestretch with a two-length advantage and repelled a sustained challenge over the last two furlongs from the second favourite Saucon Meadow (2-1) to score by 2-1/2 lengths in one minute 25.58 seconds.
The win was Ramgeet's seventh of the season and moved him from eighth to joint sixth in the jockeys' standings, being led by Daniel Centeno (22).
Ziadie, the 2008 Calder Meet champion and ex-champion here at Tampa Bay, logged no wins on the card but is still leading the colony of trainers with eight wins.
Bennett and Gregory Griffith are joint second in the trainers' table with six wins each.