ARIMA, Trinidad (CMC):Jamaica-bred horses El Paso City and Nature's Reality picked up wins on Saturday's Trinidad and Tobago eight-race card at Santa Rosa Park.
El Paso City scored in the third race and Nature's Reality landed the sixth race on an afternoon that leading riders Ricky Jadoo and Brian Harding went winless and champion apprentice Keishan Balgobin stepped up with a triple success.
In the 1100-metre third race on turf, El Paso City won under Stanley Chadee for Jamaican owner Phillip Azar.
A three-year-old colt, bred - Vanadian out of City Lights - in Jamaica by Ruth Hussey, El Paso City won by five lengths for trainer Glen Mendez.
Nature's Reality, a four-year-old gelding, bred - Natural Selection out of Dame O' Mandy - by Dr Patrick Graham in Jamaica, won the 1350-metre sixth race in 1:23.20 for trainer John O'Brien.
Triple triumph
Balgobin logged his three-timer by scoring with the 8-1 bet Goldsmith by five lengths in the first race, A Dream Come True by half-length in the second and Some Like It Hot by 5-1/4 lengths in the fourth race.
The triple triumph lifted Balgobin above Harding to No.2 in the jockeys' standings with 34 wins, 14 behind Jadoo (48).
Eight-time champion Harding is relegated to third on 32 wins.Meanwhile, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago champion jockey Challenor Jones will be honoured when Trinidad and Tobago's Arima Race Club hosts its pre-Royal Oak Derby Day gala dinner and dance this month.
The function will take place at the Banquet and Conference Centre at Movietown on September 23.
Plans for the dinner and dance were announced by the Arima Race Club at a news conference held at the weekend.
Champion jockey
Barbadian Jones was Trinidad and Tobago champion jockey nine times during the 1960s and 1970s and became a trainer after retiring from race-riding.
His son, Jono Jones, is now riding successfully in Canada, already with 10 stakes wins this season at Woodbine in Toronto, including the CDN$1 million Queen's Plate.
Apart from Jones, a seven-time T&T Derby winner, Dr Steve Bennett, the youngest ever jockey to win the blue-riband event, and Alwin Poon Tip, who owned five derby winners, will be honoured, along with Carlos John, first apprentice to ride a derby winner, and radio announcer Anthony Williams.
