Nelson
Veteran campaigner SATISFIER won the City of Kingston Centenary Cup high claiming feature in a driving finish at Caymanas Park yesterday, to record his 27th career win and his fourth from five starts this season.
With favourite rider, apprentice Rayon Wilson aboard, SATISFIER, running at odds of 5-2, overcame a slow start on a muddy surface to win the race for the second consecutive year.
Competitive field
Closing determingly on the rails, he outfinished the ever-present SPANISH TOWN (5-1) under title-chasing jockey Dane Nelson by half a length in a competitive field of nine, with the 2-1 favourite BLUE MARLIN finishing another 1-1/4 length away third after holding every chance approaching the distance.
Fourth went to highly fancied THE SMOKER (5-2), who loomed large on long-time leader JACK N DBOX (29-1) entering the straight, but failed to carry through the effort.
A 10-year-old bay gelding by The Medic out of Midnight Angel, SATISFIER, who years ago campaigned successfully in the top class, is owned by Michael Howard and trained by Joseph Thomas.
The horse pushed his lifetime earnings to an impressive $9.6 million.
Wilson, who has now won six races aboard SATSIFIER, said no one knows this horse better than him and he just bided his time for most of the way.
Held position
"Although he was slowly into stride, I held my position on the inside to save ground into the straight. Then I switched my whip from my right hand to the left leaving the furlong pole and he just exploded," said the 25-year-old claiming apprentice who is popularly called 'Chin'.
Meanwhile, MEDICAL ACCOUNT (Dane Nelson up) made most in the sloppy conditions caused by mid-afternoon showers to win Race No. 4 in the CTL Claiming Series over 1500 metres, this at the attractive odds of 16-1.
The eight-year-old gelding, who is owned and trained by Michael McIntosh, held on by 1-1/2 lengths from the fast-finishing 2-1 chance ME LLAMO, in a field of seven.
Nelson had a second winner in 3-5 favourite GOOD CITIZEN for trainer Carl Anderson in the third race over 1100m for open allowance horses, clocking the smart time of 1:05.1, while the Richard Donaldson-trained COLORADO BABE went wire-to-wire in the fourth race for a 27-1 upset.