This year's racing season is drawing to a close with only two racing days remaining. After a likely uneventful Day 39 on December 15, the season will close with the Boxing Day card on December 26 (Day 40).
Unlike prior years, only one of the champions has already been decided with Glenn Mendez set to take the "Champion Trainer" title for both wins and prize money.
All of the other championship races remain too close to call. In the Jockey’s championship, Ricky Jadoo leads Brian Boodramsingh by a mere three wins with two racing days to go. Dillon Khelewan and Ronald Ali are a further five wins back and probably have too much ground to make up to be realistic contenders. The Jockeys’ championship, therefore, lies between Jadoo and Boodramsingh.
In the leading owners’ category, $200,000 and three wins separate leader Shivam Maharaj from second place Harold Chadee. Chadee will be throwing all of this two-years-olds that have shown potential at the St Ann’s and St James’ Stakes.
This is unlikely to be good enough to overhaul Shivam Maharaj in the prize money race but he certainly must hold hopes of being able to overhaul him in the wins category, although it is certain that Shivam Maharaj and his team will have other ideas so it pays well to support them over the next two days of racing. This is another one that is too close to call at this stage.
The battle for a champion racehorse and top horse in the various categories is also very open at the moment. In the two-year-old category, the winner of St James and St Ann’s Stakes will claim those titles and at this stage, the most likely champions are the John O’Brien trained Early Bird and She’s So Spectacula.
Assuming they both oblige, Early Bird is likely to also claim the champion two-year-old prize. Champion three-year-old colt is very close with the "Triple Crown" races being shared between General JN and Cape Canaveral. The Cape won the big one, the Derby, defeating the General so he is in the prime position. A win in the Gold Cup will seal that title for him, and possibly also "Horse of the Year".
Streaking Far is a lock for the champion three-year-old filly title. The older creole category could go to any one of Rocket Wheels, Sunset Cloud, Caesar Country, Valorous or Blind Date.
The Champion Imported category is also very tight. After dominating the early part of the season, fillies Pauseforacoors and Princess Suri have seen their dominance disappear in the latter half of the season. The former in particular has been particularly disappointing for connections while the latter has missed many of the later races due to injury.
Returning champion Thisoneforron surrendered his Stewards Cup title to the enigmatic Whisper Light and with Pauseforacoors well beaten in fifth, that win might be enough to have Whisper Light claim the "Champion Sprinter" title after being a finalist in this category in 2016 and 2017.
Princess Suri, Stockyard, Whisper Light and Thisonesforron are the top imported contenders for the Gold Cup and with Cape Canaveral and Valorous also expected to take their chance, this race could decide not only the Champion Imported Stayer but also this year's "Horse of the Year".
Besides determining champions, the Gold Cup is expected to be an extremely exciting race of its own accord. Defending champion Thisonesforron will be seeking to retain his title and seek revenge on his Stewards Cup conqueror, Whisper Light. The latter returned to his very best form with a convincing victory in the Stewards Cup and with his stamina proven following victory in the 2017 President’s Cup, he could be a real threat to last year's champion.
Princess Suri has been a top stayer this season but she will need to overcome her latest setback to be seen to her very best. Stockyard has been inconsistent of late but has the ability and staying credentials to win this so cannot be discounted.
The Derby winner, Cape Canaveral, will have to improve considerably to be a threat to the best-imported stayers but that cannot be ruled out. This Jamaican bred colt is improving all of the time and while his time for the Derby was pedestrian by the standards of this company, he has not been fully extended in any of his races to date.
His stable companion Valorous has been running much more consistently this year but does appear slightly below this level. It will be interesting to see the tactics employed with this colt if he contests the event since he gave his stable companion an almighty fright in the Caribbean Champion Stakes before giving way in the closing stages.
None of the other runners for whom final subscriptions have been paid has shown enough to suggest that they are serious win contenders though Magical Victory continues to run very well in defeat against the top class, most notably when second to Princess Suri in the 2018 Presidents Cup and was a staying on fourth in the Stewards Cup when he should have been at least third. He disappointed behind Cape Canaveral in the Caribbean Champions Stakes however and so will have to bounce back from that effort. An exciting race is in prospect.