Ear­ly Bird showed to all and sundry that his win in the pres­ti­gious Stew­ard’s Cup 2019 sprint one month ago was no fluke on Wednes­day when he came back to win the first grad­ed event for the 2020 rac­ing sea­son, the Na­tion­al Flour Mills Sian’s Gold Sprint, at San­ta Rosa Park, Ari­ma.

Pun­ters were again on the ball and in­stalled the John O’Brien-trained four-year-old lo­cal­ly bred horse as the 6-5 favourite to lift the $78,900 first prize cheque.

And with sta­ble­mate and last year’s win­ner Awe­some April with­drawn from the event, every­thing went well for Ear­ly Bird and pi­lot Brain Boodram­s­ing.

Af­ter a lengthy de­lay af­ter Pause­fora­coors had to be re-shod, the sev­en-horse field was sent on their way and in cus­tom­ary fash­ion, Ear­ly Bird lit­er­al­ly opened the gates, rac­ing in­to a length lead be­fore the 100 me­tres mark­er.

Go­ing up the back­stretch, Ear­ly Bird still held sway from Kha­lessi, as Spoke In Yuh Wheel tugged his way in­to third and Tri­ni Avi­a­tor be­hind in fourth. Com­ing to the cor­ner, cham­pi­on jock­ey Boodram­s­ing sent Ear­ly Bird for home and the Hugh Leong Poi-owned cre­ole quick­ened in­to a two-length lead from the chas­ing Spoke In Yuh Wheel, un­der which Jadoo was ask­ing the SIR Sta­bles-owned colt for all he was worth, while Tri­ni Avi­a­tor and Car­los Ro­jas were close on the lead­ing pair.

With 100 me­tres left it looked like Ear­ly Bird could be caught by pur­suers Spoke In Yuh Wheel and Tri­ni Avi­a­tor, who were just half-a-length adrift.

How­ev­er, the son of Gold Mar­ket/Ros­alin­da would not be de­nied and bat­tled on tena­cious­ly to the line to win.

Tri­ni Avi­a­tor snatched sec­ond from Spoke In Yuh Wheel at the line with Tiz A Vibe back in fourth. The time for the event was a good 1:03.88.

Al­though Ear­ly Bird took the fea­ture event, the star of the day was train­er Harold Chadee, who won the first event for the 2020 sea­son with Fake News.

This was not any­thing fake, as the five-year-old fil­ly out­bat­tled Pure Plea­sure to the line to win at the death for ap­pren­tice Sven Bal­roop. Chadee then went on the land two more events with Nu­clear Fire and Prince of Belle Vue. No jock­ey was able to land two win­ners on the Ari­ma Race Club eight-race card.

WEDNESDAY’S DAY 1 RE­SULTS

R1: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 Y.O. AND OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 25-0 1,100M - $23,800

1 (6) Fake News S Bal­roop 55

2 (1) Pure Plea­sure A Poon 57.5

3 (4) Vers­es O Mo­hammed 55

4 (3) Vesara K Bal­go­b­in 56.5

Time: 1:08.3 DIS­TANCES: Neck, 4, 1.

$1PARI: (6) $4.45; $1.90; (1) $1.60

$1EX­AC­TA: $24.85

TRI­FEC­TA: $142.80

SU­PER­FEC­TA; $437.05

WIN­NER: 5 y.o. B mare - Gold Mar­ket/Zarkosy (Gil­gamesh)

OWN­ER: Dave Chadee TRAIN­ER: H Chadee

BREED­ER: Poon Tip Stud Farm Lim­it­ed

AL­SO RAN: 5. In­forthe­glo­ry B Pa­hal 55.5; 6. Li­on’s Por­tion R oH­er­nan­dez 56; 7. Miss Whirl K San­to 55.5.

R2: W.I. BRED 4 Y.O AND OVER MAID­ENS 1,350M $25,000

1 (4) Wel­come­tod­par­ty N Sama­roo 55

2 (5) Team Spir­it B Boodram­s­ing 55

3 (3) Tea Par­ty P Badrie 57

4 (7) The Last Li­oness B Pa­hal 54.5

TIME: 1:25.3 DIS­TANCES: 1/2, 1 3/4, 2 3/4.

$1PARI: (4) $2.80; 1.25; (5) $1.60; (3) $2.40

$1EX­AC­TA: $13.95

TRI­FEC­TA: $72.25

SU­PER­FEC­TA: $327.35

WIN­NER: 4 y.o B geld­ing - Ve­gas No Show/The Big Squeeze (Big Coun­try)

OWN­ER: Crys­tal Bal­ladin TRAIN­ER: L Alex­is

BREED­ER: Sieu­sankar Maraj

AL­SO RAN: 5. Joseph A Poon 54; 6. Hei­di Saw Red N Mo­hammed 52.5; 7. Change Mak­er R oH­er­nan­dez 56; 8. El Chapo O Mo­hammed 53; 9. Many Clouds J Boodram­s­ing 55.5.

R3: W.I. BRED 3 Y.O MAID­ENS 1,100M - $36,600

1 (7) Nu­clear Fire R Jadoo 57

2 (3) En­chant­ed Cat R Ali 54

3 (1) Proud Vanes­sa K San­to 50.5

4 (5) Smooth Sail­ing B Boodram­s­ing 50

TIME: 1:06.3 DIS­TANCES: Neck, 2, 7.

$1 PARI: (7) $1.45; $1.05; (3) $1.10; (1) $1.20

EX­AC­TA: $4.50

TRI­FEC­TA: $20.50

SU­PER­FEC­TA: $38.95

WIN­NER: 3 y.o CH colt - Nu­clear Wayne/Storm Girl (Storm Craft)

OWN­ER: Dave Chadee TRAIN­ER: H Chadee

BREED­ER: Karl Samu­da (Ja­maica)

AL­SO RAN: 5. Over­drive R iH­er­nan­dez 51; 6. Con Te Par­tiro N Sama­roo 54; 7. Red Casi­no R Bal­go­b­in 50.5; 8. Break­through D Butch­er 52.

NON-RUN­NER: CP Jet

R4: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 Y.O AND OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 50-35 1,350M $30,900

1 (4) Mem­o­ries N Abrego 55.5

2 (5) Jesse’s Girl R Ali 57

3 (8) Riv­er Se­cret K San­to 53.5

4 (3) Coun­try Boy S Bal­roop 51.5

TIME: 1:22.4 DIS­TANCES: Sh. Head, 4 1/2, 2 1/4.

$1 PARI: (4) $3.05; $1.80; (5) $1.50; (8) $1.60

$1 EX­AC­TA: $13.20

TRI­FEC­TA: $50.95

SU­PER­FEC­TA: $427.70

WIN­NER: 4y.o DK B colt - Speech­mak­er/Pleas­ant Amour (Pleas­ant Tap)

OWN­ER: Rhanie Mo­hammed TRAIN­ER: G Mo­hammed

BREED­ER: Zan­im Ralph Meahjohn

AL­SO RAN: 5. In­dy An­na Ba­by N Flaven­ney 57; 6. Free Pas­sage J Boodram­s­ing 56.5; 7. Well Con­nect­ed N Flaven­ney 57; 8. Hel­lo O Mo­hammed 56.

R5: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 Y.O AND OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 45-30 1,100M - $29,100

1 (6) Mar­ket Leader R Ali 57

2 (3) Sweet So­ca Star S Bal­roop 52

3 (4) Lo­ca­tor N Abrego 56.5

4 (7) Myra Mary D Khelawan 57

5 (5) Bul­let­proof B Boodram­s­ing 55

TIME: 1:05.2 DIS­TANCES: 1/2, 3/4, 3 3/4, 1/2.

$1PARI: (6) $6.10; $2.00; (3) $2.35; (4) $2.90

$1EX­AC­TA: $56.50

TRI­FEC­TA: $298.60

SU­PER­FEC­TA: $3,285.05

HI-5: $6,564.90

WIN­NER: 6 y.o. B geld­ing – Gold Mar­ket/Ti­ta­ni­um (Spot­nick)

OWN­ER: Rolf O Bar­to­lo TRAIN­ER: R Bar­to­lo

BREED­ER: Em­manuel C Lawrence

AL­SO RAN: 6. Mu­si­cal Score B Pa­hal 54; 7. For­tune Teller K San­to 52; 8. Sling Shot O Mo­hammed 53; 9. Man Of To­mor­row R Bal­go­b­in 57.5; 10. Uhu­ru R iH­er­nan­dez 53.5; 11. Vi­sion­ary N Sama­roo 54.5.

R6: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3. Y.O AND OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 60-45 1,750M - $34,000

1 (4) Prince Of Belle­vue K San­to 55

2 (8) Fast’N’Fu­ri­ous R Jadoo 56.5

3 (7) Nabawi N Abrego 57

4 (3) News Flash R iH­er­nan­dez 53

TIME: 1:52.3 DIS­TANCES: 6 1/2, 1 1/4, 2 1/4.

$1PARI: (4) $4.15; $1.50; (8) $1.65; (7) $2.50

$1EX­AC­TA: $49.95

TRI­FEC­TA: $528.65

SU­PER­FEC­TA: $1,395.50

WIN­NER: 5 y.o B horse - Re­pent/Legal­ly Ready(Le­gal Process)

OWN­ER: Dave Chadee TRAIN­ER: H Chadee

BREED­ER: Harold Chadee

AL­SO RAN: 5. Maren­go C Ro­jas 56; 6. Thi­sis­my­luck­y­la­dy J Boodram­s­ing 55; 7. Trova­tore D Butch­er 55.5; 8. Ben Is Back B Boodram­s­ing 57.

R7: NA­TION­AL FLOUR MILLS SIAN’S GOLD SPRINT (GR.III) 1,100M $131,500

1 (8) Ear­ly Bird B Boodram­s­ing 57

2 (1) Tri­ni Avi­a­tor C Ro­jas 54

3 (7) Spoke In Yuh Wheel R Jadoo 54

4 (4) Tiz A Vibe S Bal­roop 51

TIME: 1:03.88 DIS­TANCES: 1/2, 1/2, 1 3/4.

$1PARI: (8) $2.40; $2.30; (1) $2.45

EX­AC­TA: $14.80

TRI­FEC­TA: $67.30

SU­PER­FEC­TA: $415.70

WIN­NER: 4 y.o DK B geld­ing - Gold Mar­ket/Ros­alin­da (Awe­some Again)

OWN­ER: Hugh Leong Poi TRAIN­ER: J O’Brien

BREED­ER: Hugh Leong Poi

AL­SO RAN: 5. Stock­yard R Ali 57; 6. Pause­fora­coors R iH­er­nan­dez 54; 7. Khaleesi K San­to 50.

NON-RUN­NERS: Awe­some April, Whis­per Light

R8: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 Y.O AND OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 35-0 1,300M 2000M $27,400

1 (11) Pure Strike C Ro­jas 54

2 (7) Sin­gle Bul­let B Pa­hal 55.5

3 (13) Mar­coni D Khelawan 58.5

4 (3) Uno Mas N Mo­hammed 56.5

5 (5) Raeven Re­nae K Bal­go­b­in 58.5

TIME:1:21.0 DIS­TANCES: Sh.Head, 5 3/4, 1 1/4, 1.

$1PARI: (11) $7.95; $2.10; (7) $2.30; (13) $2.30

EX­AC­TA: $28.50

TRI­FEC­TA:$454.75

SU­PER­FEC­TA:1,963.40

HI-5: $4,160.70

WIN­NER: 5yo CH geld­ing - Strikes Not Spares/Pure De­light (Kdanzc)

OWN­ER: Kei­th Lu­cas TRAIN­ER: K Lu­cas

BREED­ER:Charles James

AL­SO RAN: 6. No More Re­grets K San­to 55; 7. Sexy Eyes J Boodram­s­ing 56; 8. Pri­vate En­ter­prise R iH­er­nan­dez 54; 9. Asajj Ven­tress N Sama­roo 56.5; 10. La­dy Char­i­ty D Butch­er 57.5; 11. Straight­tothe­p­oint S Bal­roop 54; 12. Un­set­tled Heart R Bal­go­b­in 53; 13. Blue Moun­tain Rose O Mo­hammed 53.