Nand Persaud stables dominate again at home

By Andrew Carmichael

Golden Blue Echo piloted by Jockey Randy Richmond for the second time used home advantage to win the feature event of the Sprint Classic Horse Race meeting on Sunday.

Randy Richmond receiving the Champion Jockey trophy from Manindra Persaud
Randy Richmond receiving the Champion Jockey trophy from Manindra Persaud

Like the animal did on October 9, when the first ever sprint classic was held in Guyana, Golden Blue Echo of the Nand Persaud Stables led from gate to poll with stablemate Honey Flow finishing second and teammate Brave Sky finishing in dead heat with Got To Go of the Jumbo Jet Stables to take a clean sweep of the race.
The 880 yards race which had a top prize of $400,000 also had Score’s Even at the start and was expected to perform well in the short distance. However, the former ‘A’ class horse brought up the rears.
In other events; Release the Beast ridden by Jockey Richmond won the ‘L’ class event over a distance of 440 years to take the $100,000 first prize. The second place went to Wicked Champion ahead of Stormy Express and My Shallow.
The ‘H’ Class event over a distance of 660 yards was won by Appealing Harvest of the Jumbo Jet Stables. Jockey Richmond piloted the animal to take the $300,000 first prize ahead of Sweet Return, Amazing Run and Maid of the Cat finishing in that order.
The ‘L’ Class open was set for 440 yards and saw I am Back taking the $110,000 prize. The second place went to Easy Lion finishing ahead of Blondy and Christmas Feeling.
The Guyana bread 2-year-olds were given a distance of 660 yards to race for the $200,000 first prize. The race was won by Miss Olympic with Jockey Brian Blake on board. The second place went Miss Angelie with Genuine Risk and Irish Baby rounding out the top finishers.
With $200,000 set as the top prize in the ‘K’ class race, Jockey Blake piloted Secret Escape past the poll to win ahead of She is in Control and Plain Land. Daddy’s Dollar and Red Region ran dead heat for fourth. While Got To Go won the ‘L’ Class event ahead of Quiet Dancer and Big Man Bass. The race had a top price of $340,000.
The day ended with some controversy when the ‘J’ Class and 2-year-old Guyana bred race was held. Liquid Lion was a clear winner in the 440-yard event which had a first prize of $240,000. The second place went to Secrete Escape while the judges could not decide on third and decided to give it jointly to Seven Dust and Massaupequea Dr.
Randy Richmond was the top Jockey with four wins in the eight race meeting, Jockey Brian Blake went home with two wins so too did Jockey Wills.