A small crowd of diehard horse racing fans braved wind and rain on Sunday to come to the Randall “Doc” James Racetrack for what turned out to be a highly competitive six-race card. It was easily the nastiest day of racing in years, but hardly any of the horses on Sunday’s card scratched from their respective races.
Although the heavy rains did not put a damper on the races, the loss of Cat Hunter, in the six-furlong third race was tragic. The thoroughbred apparently suffered a heart attack during the run down the home stretch and went down never to move again. Jockey Junior Inirio was thrown from his saddle as the horse went down but suffered no apparent injuries and was able to ride out the rest of the card.
The featured sixth race of the day, ran at a distance of seven and a half furlongs for a purse of $4,000, went off in the heaviest downpour of the afternoon. But that did not deter Green Sand and jockey Angel Viera as they were able to take the field of five gate to wire for the victory.
With visibility at a minimum, most fans had to rely on the call of the announcer, hoping he had a better view, to know the position of the horses as they negotiated their way around the track through the driving rain.
At the break, as expected, the speedy Green Sand was fastest out of the gates and rushed to the early lead. He was quickly joined on the lead by Puerto Rican Emblem, and those two would duel around the sloppy track for most of the race.
Green Sand, however, edged away as they approached the far turn, and Temo’s Dream and Jockey Inirio began their run, moving into position for a run at the wire as the field approach the top of the stretch. Temo’s Dream ran by Puerto Rican Emblem and set his sights on the leader, gaining with every stride. Just when it looked as if he would catch and go by the leader, Green Sand appeared to find another gear and under a strong right hand whip by Viera, he was able to just hold off Temo’s Dream to win by half a length at the wire. Puerto Rican Emblem was able to hold on for a distant third. The other two thoroughbreds in the race, Walk the Cat Walk and Little Boy Brew were never in contention, finishing far back in fourth and fifth respectively.
The rest of the day’s results:
Race 1 7.5F I-4 & I-5(M/F) & I-6 C/G Jockey
Time: 1:35.4
1. Devil’s Revenge, Sunday Diaz
2. Grey Forbes, Miguel Sanchez
3. Cherokee Neesh, Myris Rivera
Race 2 6F “VI Bred” Open Race, Jockey
“The Wind Flow Invitational”
Time: 1:15.4
1. Irie Ites, Christian Soto, Jr.
2. Creation Rebel, Kevin Krigger
3. Kings of Kings, Junior Inirio
Race 3 6F Class I5 (C/G), Jockey
Time: 1:14.1
1. Black Machine, Myris Rivera
2. Protype, Miguel Sanchez
3. Neerly Nasty, Kevin Krigger
Race 4 7F I-4 & I-5, Jockey
Time: 1:28.2
1. Ala Cat, Mickey Nieves
2. Lobito, Junior Inirio
3. Mi Jesus, Angel Viera
Race 5 7F Class I-1, 2 & 3 M/F, Jockey
Time: 1:28.1
1. Finish in Style, Miguel Sanchez
2. Dance Mistress, Angel Viera
3. Leggy Blonde, Junior Inirio