Shane Ellis....rode three winners

Orville Clarke, Freelance Writer

The 4-y-o filly OUTSTANDING lived up to her name at Caymanas Park yesterday with a fast-time victory over the straight five course in the 3-y-o and up open allowance race.

Installed a 1-2 favourite in a field of six, OUTSTANDING made amends for her near miss (reared start) in the Pringle Cup over 1100 metres on December 29 to win by 2 1/2 lengths from EXPLOSIVE PEAK (3-1), who had a short head to spare over 7-2 chance BULLET TRAIN.

With 2.0kg claiming apprentice Jason Simpson aboard, OUTSTANDING was well away on this occasion and was ridden to dispute the lead with BULLET TRAIN under champion jockey Omar Walker with EXPLOSIVE PEAK racing in close touch on the outside.

OUTSTANDING run

OUTSTANDING galloped on to the main track with BULLET TRAIN upside, but soon went into overdrive. She quickened into a clear approaching the distance and kept on strongly to win convincingly from EXPLOSIVE PEAK and BULLET TRAIN heads on.

A lightly raced bay filly by Law Of The Sea out of Tropical Magic, OUTSTANDING covered the distance in the smart time of 0.57.2, behind exciting splits of 22.0 and 44.3 for the first half mile.

She is owned and bred by Roylton D'Cambre and trained by veteran Hall of Famer Allan 'Billy' Williams, who last November said the filly would be retired to stud after finishing a close fourth to MUSICAL MAESTRO in the Megafone Caribbean Sprint over 1200 metres.

However, OUTSTANDING subsequently ran in the Pringle Cup where she just failed to beat RAMPAGE, but duly made amends yesterday. As to whether this was her last race, Williams said he will have to see how she comes out of the race.

"The breeding season is still some weeks off so we may run her again next Saturday", said the three-time champion trainer (1964, 1968, 1969). If all is right with her, OUTSTANDING will contest the rescheduled Abe Issa Memorial Cup over 1200 metres on Saturday. She has now won six races from eight career starts with total stakes of $1.67 million.

Meanwhile, former champion jockey Shane Ellis highlighted the 11-race programme with three winners, including the three-year-olds debutantes MEDUSA (5-1) and LADY LIZ (2-1) in the respective sections of the Eight Thirty Sprint for native bred maiden three-year-olds over the straight five course.

Good wins

Both fillies raced prominently and won in driving finishes. MEDUSA is a grey filly by He'stherealthing out of Marlee Barley, owned by Elias Haloute, bred by the Orange Valley Estates Limited and trained by Robert A. Taylor who saddled a second winner on the card in PEACE ANGEL (7-1).

LADY LIZ, meanwhile, is a grey filly by He'stherealthing out of English Harvest from the stables of Gary Subratie. She is owned and bred by Edison Chai.

Incidentally, Ellis, the leading rider with 10 winners, disclosed that he will be riding full-time in Jamaica this year, rather than returning to Woodbine in Canada. He had been riding at the Toronto-based track for the past three seasons.