Horse of the Year 2019 Juice Man showed why he was giv­en the ac­co­lade of top equine hero for last year when he again beat his ri­vals in­to sub­mis­sion at San­ta Rosa Park, Ari­ma, on Sat­urday.

Sent off as the 4-5 favourite in the five-horse field, Juice Man gave his back­ers no scares as he won in the style of a firm favourite. He won by four lengths from Gen­er­al JN, with Gold Cup win­ner Mas­ter of War a half-length back in third. Apoc­a­lypse was fourth home and nev­er land­ed a blow.

De­spite car­ry­ing four ki­los over­weight, Juice Man nev­er looked like­ly to be beat­en. How­ev­er, there was some dra­ma at the start of the event when Spoke In Yuh Wheel dis­lodged ap­pren­tice Ridge Bal­go­b­in leav­ing the gates, re­duc­ing the field to four run­ners.

When the hors­es passed the post for the first time in the fea­ture Hand­i­cap Event for Hoses rat­ed 80 and Over go­ing over a dis­tance of 1,750 me­tres on the main track, Gen­er­al JN was the first to show un­der ap­pren­tice Sven Bal­roop. He was fol­lowed by Apoc­a­lypse and Juice Man, with Mas­ter of War close up in fourth.

Go­ing around the first turn, Gen­er­al JN es­tab­lished a length lead on Juice Man, who moved in­to sec­ond, with Mas­ter of War rel­e­gat­ing Apoc­a­lypse to fourth po­si­tion. Go­ing down the back-straight, Gen­er­al JN still held sway by a mea­sured length from Juice Man with Mater of War two lengths fur­ther back in third and Apoc­a­lypse con­tent­ed to ob­serve from the rear.

At the far turn, how­ev­er, Gen­er­al JN still led but on­ly on suf­fer­ance as jock­ey Ricky Jadoo al­lowed Juice Man to go join the leader and he was trav­el­ling much stronger than his ri­val. Mas­ter of War was now be­ing rid­den along to keep pace while Apoc­a­lypse could make no im­pres­sion on the lead­ers.

At the top of the straight, Jadoo gave Juice Man the of­fice and the son of Storm Craft/Pas­sion bound­ed in­to a three-length lead from Gen­er­al JN, who could of­fer no more re­sis­tance. It was here that Ki­mal San­to asked Mas­ter of War for his ef­fort to get to Juice Man but he could muster no more to get any­where close to the easy win­ner.

At the line, Juice Man won un­der a con­fi­dent Jadoo in an im­pres­sive time of 1:50.87. Gen­er­al JN held on for sec­ond from a fast-fin­ish­ing Mas­ter of War.

Train­ing ho­n­ours for the day fell to Harold Chadee, who sad­dled two win­ners while rid­ing ho­n­ours were shared be­tween ap­pren­tice cham­pi­on of 2019 Ki­mal San­to and Car­los Ro­jas.

R1: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 Y.O. & OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 40-25 1350M - $27,200

1 (7) Coun­try Boy S Bal­roop 56

2 (3) Pure Strike R iH­er­nan­dez 57.5

3 (6) Fake News K San­to 52.5

4 (2) For­tune Teller J Boodram­s­ing 56.5

Time: 1:23.2 DIS­TANCES: 3, 1 1/4, 1 1/4.

$1PARI: (7) $2.10; $1.10; (3) $1.20

$1EX­AC­TA: $4.25 TRI­FEC­TA: $10.95 SU­PER­FEC­TA; $60.95

WIN­NER: 9 y.o. B geld­ing - Big Coun­try/Cash Is In (Storm Re­port)

OWN­ER: Dave Chadee TRAIN­ER: H Chadee

BREED­ER: Zan­im Ralph Meahjohn

AL­SO RAN: 5. Go­la­zo K Chan­dler 58; 6. Lancelot T Phillips 55; 7. Mis­chief Mak­er R Bal­go­b­in 52.

R2: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 Y.O & OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 45-30 1,600M $28,100

1 (6) Julie K San­to 56

2 (4) Sin­gle Bul­let J Boodram­s­ing 57

3 (9) Man Of To­mor­row Ro Her­nan­dez 56.5

4 (3) Bul­let­proof B Boodram­s­ing 57

TIME: 1:40.0 DIS­TANCES: Nose, 1/2, 2 1/4.

$1PARI: (6) $4.25; 1.75; (4) $2.00; (9) $1.60

$1EX­AC­TA: $14.10 TRI­FEC­TA: $29.00 SU­PER­FEC­TA: $385.95

WIN­NER: 4 y.o DK B fil­ly - Ve­gas No Show/Charm The Banker (Pri­vate Banker)

OWN­ER: Cur­tis Em­manuel TRAIN­ER: G Em­manuel

BREED­ER: Mrs Mar­i­lyn Miller

AL­SO RAN: 5. Mu­si­cal Score S Bal­roop 54.5; 6. Asian Princess T Phillips 55; 7. Why Ka­palua A Poon 56.

NON-RUN­NER: Sweet So­ca Star

R3: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 Y.O & OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 50-35 1,100M - $30,900

1 (4) Zhil­iang P Badrie 57

2 (8) Lit­tle Chelsie S Ro­dri­go 57

3 (5) Feel The Heat K San­to 54.5

4 (1) Jesse’s Girl R Ali 58.5

TIME: 1:05.1 DIS­TANCES: 3/4, Sh.Head, Neck.

$1 PARI: (4) $25.65; $6.25; (8) $2.20; (5) $2.15

EX­AC­TA: $179.80 TRI­FEC­TA: $4,144.03 SU­PER­FEC­TA: $5,175.58

WIN­NER: 8 y.o CH geld­ing - Elu­sive Qual­i­ty/Fairy Dancer (At­ti­cus)

OWN­ER: Dy­nam­ic Equine Rac­ing Sta­bles TRAIN­ER: H Gob­in

BREED­ER: Cen­taur Farms INC. (Ken­tucky,U.S.A.)

AL­SO RAN: 5. Dis­coul­drun S Bal­roop 56.5; 6. Myra Mary N Sama­roo 54.5; 7. High­land Lass J Boodram­s­ing 57; 8. Nu­clear Fire R Jadoo 51.5.

R4: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 Y.O & OVER HORS­ES 80-60 1,500M $41,200

1 (5) Risk To Rich­es K San­to 54.5

2 (1) Sea Of Gdan­sk A Poon 51.5

3 (4) Khaleesi B Boodram­s­ing 51

4 (3) Reg­gae Rhythm S Bal­roop 52.5

TIME: 1:31.4 DIS­TANCES: Head, Sh.Head, 1.

$1 PARI: (5) $2.10; $1.60; (1) $2.50

$1 EX­AC­TA: $22.30 TRI­FEC­TA: $61.05 SU­PER­FEC­TA: $368.15

WIN­NER: 5y.o B horse - Yes It’s True/My Sat­ur­day Girl (Any Giv­en Sat­ur­day)

OWN­ER: Dave Chadee TRAIN­ER: H Chadee

BREED­ER: Bry­lynn Farm INC (Flori­da USA)

AL­SO RAN: 5. Mafia Man R Bal­go­b­in 50; 6. Sun­set Cloud S Ro­dri­go 57.

NON-RUN­NERS: Desert Dancer, Chin­ta

R5: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 Y.O & OVER HORS­ES 20-0 1,100M - $22,300

1 (10) Gold N’Brown B Boodram­s­ing 53.5

2 (1) Trusty Rose N Mo­hammed 57

3 (3) Re­bec­ca’s World R oH­er­nan­dez 56

4 (5) D Light­ning Strike T Phillips 54.5

5 (8) I’Miss­inghigh­bury R Jadoo 53

TIME: 1:06.1 DIS­TANCES: 3, Neck, Neck, Head.

$1PARI: (10) $8.80; $1.80; (1) $1.60; (3) $2.00

$1EX­AC­TA: $27.90 TRI­FEC­TA: $181.50 SU­PER­FEC­TA: $7,903.85

HI-5: $43,270.30

WIN­NER: 6 y.o. B mare – Bristling/Bri­an’s Luck (Un­bri­dled Op­ti­mism)

OWN­ER: Moses Box­ie TRAIN­ER: M Box­ie

BREED­ER:Hugh Lee King

AL­SO RAN: 6. Hei­di Saw Red P Badrie 54; 7. Set­tled D’Ac­count J Boodram­s­ing 56.5; 8. Red­hot­fil­lypep­per K San­to 54.5; 9. Sweet Word K Raza­ck 52.

NON-RUN­NER: Ea­ger.

R6: HAND­I­CAP 3. Y.O & OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 80 AND OVER 1,750M - $51,000

1 (4) Juice Man R Jadoo 51

2 (3) Gen­er­al JN S Bal­roop 55.5

3 (6) Mas­ter Of War K San­to 56

4 (1) Apoc­a­lypse B Boodram­s­ing 51.5

DIS­TANCES: Nose, Nose, Nose.

$1PARI: (4) $1.95; $4.15; (3) $18.35

$1EX­AC­TA: $4.15 TRI­FEC­TA: $18.35

WIN­NER: 4 y.o B colt - Storm Craft/Pas­sion (Kamm­tar­ra)

OWN­ER: Justyn Kan­ta Per­sad TRAIN­ER: G Mendez

BREED­ER: Lake­land Farms LTD (Ja­maica)

NON-RUN­NER: Af­fir­ma­tive

R7: MOD­I­FIED BENCH­MARK HAND­I­CAP 3 Y.O & OVER HORS­ES RAT­ED 35-0 1500M $27,400

1 (11) Asajj Ven­tress Ro Her­nan­dez 55

2 (4) Princess Alex B Boodram­s­ing 55

3 (8) Un­ruly Queen J Boodram­s­ing 58.5

4 (10) Uno Mas P Badrie 57.5

5 (13) Pure In­no­cence S Ro­dri­go 58.5

DIS­TANCES: 1/2, 1/2, 1 1/4, 1 1/2.

$1PARI: (11) $7.10; $3.10; (4) $4.05; (8) $3.25

EX­AC­TA: $116.55 TRI­FEC­TA: $1,370.20 SU­PER­FEC­TA: $8,043.10

HI-5: $12,793.20

WIN­NER: 6 y.o CH mare - Dark Cloud Dancer/Bel­la Di­avo­lo (Tale Of The Cat)

OWN­ER: Eu­gene St Aude TRAIN­ER: L Alex­is

BREED­ER: Charles James

AL­SO RAN: 6. Princess Char­lotte S Bal­roop 55; 7. Moana R Jadoo 57; 8. No More Re­grets T Phillips 54; 9. The Big Saint N Abrego 57.5; 10. Many Clouds N Sama­roo 57; 11. Mes­si N Mo­hammed 56.

NON-RUN­NERS: In­forthe­glo­ry, Sling Shot.