2005 Superstakes winner MIRACLE MAN . - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

MIRACLE MAN, the reigning 'Horse of the Year', leaves the island today at noon for Puerto Rico to contest the December 1 Contraternity Classic, a race he won last year.

MIRACLE MAN will be accompanied on the flight by this year's St. Leger winner, RUM TALK, who will run in the US$300,000 Caribbean Classic confined to three-year-olds from Central America and the Caribbean region. The Caribbean Classic is scheduled to be run on Sunday, December 2 at the old El Commandante racetrack.

The horses were selected to represent Jamaica by the Racing Commission at a meeting on October 31. They will be accompanied by the Commission's chief vet, Dr. St. Aubyn Bartlett. The horses were originally scheduled to leave the island on Monday, but the flight was pushed back by a day. Jamaica will be sending a horse to the Caribbean Classic for the first time in years.

In 2005, MIRACLE MAN was selected by the JRC and actually left for the race. However, he failed to face the starter, this after he was diagnosed with the effects of tick fever while quarantined for a few days in Miami. Allen Maragh will ride MIRACLE MAN.

Over the years some big names have represented Jamaica in the Caribbean Classic. These include INDIAN FLAME and KRITERION in the mid-70s, LEGAL LIGHT and HARLEQUIN in 1977, ROYAL DAD in 1981, THORNBIRD when the race was run in Panama in 1984, as well as D'S A LEGEND in Venezuela a year later and POORLITTLERICHGIRL in 1991.