PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

TOP VENEZUELAN jockey Santiago Gonzalez produced a brilliant front-running ride and snatched a surprise win with the Jamaican filly PRIDE 'N' GLORY in the Royal Oak Trinidad and Tobago Derby at Santa Rosa on Wednesday.

In a Jamaican sweep of the top three places, PRIDE 'N' GLORY won the TT$500,000 (US$82,600) event over 2000 metres by a short head at odds of 7-1, edging out the hot 3-2 favourite DONUT PRINCE.

JOSIE WALES, after a third-place finish in the Jamaica Derby in June, finished third again here at odds of 4-1, with reigning champion jockey Brian Harding aboard.

Trained by Glen Mendez for Jamaican owner and breeder Philip Azar, PRIDE 'N' GLORY clocked 2.09.2 in victory and became the fourth Jamaican winner of the T&T Derby at Santa Rosa Park, after MR LOVER LOVER (1997), TERREMOTO (1998) and BORDER DISPUTE (2005).

The combination of Gonzalez for trainer Mendez and owner Azar enjoyed another win on the 10-race card when they linked up to land the second race with the Jamaica-bred colt DIAMOND MAN.

richest ever T&T Derby

By Tracking out of the Pass The Line mare Glorious Line, PRIDE 'N' GLORY was pushed into an early lead in the richest ever T&T Derby.

Stalked by the fancied local entry Just in Time and Josie Wales, with the Barbados entry The Bangor Baron in contention, PRIDE 'N' GLORY set the pace and stayed ahead down the backstretch.

Gonzalez, currently the leading rider in Venezuela, held a two-length advantage astride the filly leaving the far turn, followed by Just in Time and Josie Wales, with Donut Prince beginning to gain considerably on the leaders.

Coming off the final turn, jockey Heribert Martinez roused Donut Prince for a rail run to tackle PRIDE 'N' GLORY, who had drifted off the rail. The two horses engaged in a terrific duel down the homestretch.

They flashed past the winning post together and it took the photo-finish camera to decide the slim victory margin for PRIDE 'N' GLORY.