Cham­pi­on jock­ey Dil­lon Khelawan main­tained his stran­gle­hold on the lo­cal rac­ing scene when he won the fi­nal leg of the lo­cal rac­ing's Triple Crown, aboard Head­lin­er on Wednes­day (Sep­tem­ber 24).

He was al­so the lead­ing rid­er of the day's card with three win­ners from the six races, which were con­test­ed at San­ta Rosa Park, Ari­ma, on Re­pub­lic Day.

The top rid­er was made the 1-9 favourite to win the Trinidad Der­by and Head­lin­er topped the event by 12 1/2 lengths in run­away fash­ion. That vic­to­ry gave own­er Di­ane Scott her first Triple Crown suc­cess as an own­er.

When Guardian Me­dia spoke to Khelawan af­ter his suc­cess in the Trinidad Der­by, he said, "This was not easy, win­ning a Triple Crown is not easy and it took months of hard work and com­mit­ment to achieve the suc­cess that Head­lin­er has had dur­ing this sea­son."

The day did not be­gin the way that Khelawan would have want­ed, as he fin­ished a well-beat­en sec­ond be­hind the run­away win­ner Red Alert in the third event, by 10 lengths. How­ev­er, from the fourth race, Khelawan put every­thing right. He was next seen aboard Bour­bon Blitz, who was made the 1-9 favourite. Bour­bon Blitz won like a cham­pi­on, do­ing hand­springs com­ing up the straight from sta­ble­mate Creme De La Creme, win­ning by nine lengths.

When asked about Bour­bon Blitz, Khelawan said, "He ran a brave race. He trav­elled well for the ear­ly part of the race and I thought I had it at the far turn as he was go­ing supreme­ly well. At the cor­ner, it was just a ques­tion of how Far. He quick­ened up well and won as an odds-on favourite did. That was al­so the first win­ner for cham­pi­on train­er John O'Brien. "

Khelawan came back in the fifth event to land his sec­ond win­ner on the six-race card, when he rode Sneaky Cheeky to vic­to­ry by three-and-a-quar­ter lengths. He was aboard the 1-9 favourite and she won as she pleased from the O'Brien-trained The God­dess Nike.

Next came the Trinidad Der­by, the fi­nal leg of the lo­cal rac­ing Triple Crown and as ex­pect­ed, Head­lin­er won as all ex­pect­ed, by 12 1/2 lengths.

Khelawan said, "He broke well and I made all the run­ning. He went clear go­ing down the back and was trav­el­ling best of all com­ing to the cor­ner. He ran on well to the line. I nev­er doubt­ed he would win the Triple Crown and he won in style. He will con­tin­ue to im­prove."

The cham­pi­on jock­ey added, "He has shown re­mark­able im­prove­ment and will go well in his next con­test and main­tain his un­beat­en record."