JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Friday, July 11, 2025

Trinidad Derby 2024 Preview

by

Andre E Baptiste
295 days ago
20240918

The most cov­et­ed prize on any rac­ing cal­en­dar, the Der­by will be run off on Re­pub­lic Day (Sep­tem­ber 24) at the Ari­ma Race Club.

Un­like 2023, there is no pos­si­bil­i­ty of a Triple Crown win­ner in 2024 with two dif­fer­ent hors­es hav­ing won the first two legs of the Triple Crown. In the open­ing leg, the Guineas, Un­cle Rog, was the win­ner with Red Alert and Se­cret Pages fill­ing the run­ner up po­si­tions (sec­ond and third re­spec­tive­ly). In the sec­ond leg, the Mid­sum­mer Clas­sic, run off on turf, the win­ner was For­ev­er Grand with Un­be­liev­able and Se­cret Pages fill­ing the run­ner-up po­si­tions.

Un­cle Rog was ex­treme­ly dis­ap­point­ing fin­ish­ing tailed off in the event. It may be that the did not ap­pre­ci­ate the turf sur­face though he had been suc­cess­ful on that sur­face pre­vi­ous­ly. It seemed more like­ly that the ru­mours of his non well-be­ing were well found­ed. Both Un­cle Rog and For­ev­er Grand are trained by John O’Brien.

The Trinidad Der­by will be de­cid­ing event for the year with both win­ners fea­tur­ing among the sev­en hors­es for whom fi­nal sub­scrip­tions have been paid. They are joined by their sta­ble com­pan­ion, Head­lines Again who was the un­beat­en cham­pi­on ju­ve­nile of 2023 and re­turned to the races with a good sec­ond to an im­port­ed horse af­ter miss­ing the first two legs of the Guineas while re­cov­er­ing from an in­jury.

The O’Brien trio are joined by the Mid­sum­mer Clas­sic sec­ond, Un­be­liev­able; the third place fin­ish­er in the first two clas­sics, Se­cret Pages; and two hors­es who have failed to trou­ble the judges in any of their races, Cap­i­tal Tee and Hot Rod Kash­ton. In fact, the last three hors­es are still maid­ens.

Un­cle Rog has been some­thing of an enig­ma in 2024. Af­ter a maid­en two-year-old sea­son al­though show­ing steady im­prove­ment, he con­tin­ued his up­grade run from his three-year-old de­but cul­mi­nat­ing in his Guineas win. He has been some­what dis­ap­point­ing since but his Mid­sum­mer Clas­sic run was his worst per­for­mance since his de­but. He has not been seen on the course since that run, al­beit there was on­ly one race­day so pun­ters will have to judge from his re­port­ed gal­lops with re­spect to his well be­ing. The se­lec­tion of the sta­ble’s prin­ci­pal rid­er, Dil­lon Khelawan, should be il­lus­tra­tive in that re­spect al­so.

For­ev­er Grand was un­raced as a two-year-old and was al­so well beat­en on his three-year-old de­but. He im­proved to win his next start but his Mid­sum­mer Clas­sic win was still a shock re­sult. Whether he can trans­late that turf form to the dirt will be the main un­known with this colt though his maid­en win was on the main track. He is a half broth­er to the best horse in the coun­try, Hel­lo World, but hav­ing been al­ready geld­ed, may not have the same scope as his broth­er.

The third of the O’Brien trio is Head­lines Again. This fil­ly is sired by the best sire in the coun­try, Head­lines News, who un­for­tu­nate­ly does not get the same op­por­tu­ni­ties as many less­er sires. The fil­ly is al­so a sib­ling to many top class hors­es, most no­tably, Mak­ing Head­lines. Af­ter miss­ing most of the sea­son, she re­turned to run a fine sec­ond to The God­dess Nike over 1,350 me­tres and that form is prob­a­bly bet­ter than the clas­sic form of her ri­vals in this race. She will need to prove her fit­ness over this longer dis­tance but that is the on­ly ques­tion mark against her name. Her class may still be enough to get her home.

The op­po­si­tion to the O’brien trio is led by two clas­sic placed hors­es, Un­be­liev­able and Se­cret Pages. The for­mer was run­ner-up in the Mid­sum­mer Clas­sic on the turf and has shown his best form on that sur­face scor­ing his maid­en win on that sur­face al­so. He has been less suc­cess­ful on the main track with just one third in five starts and fin­ish­ing un­placed in his Der­by prep on Au­gust 31. He showed no signs of stop­ping in Mid­sum­mer so sta­mi­na may not be an is­sue but be­ing bred for the turf, he may find it dif­fi­cult to show the same lev­el of form on the main track.

Se­cret Pages who was third in the first two Clas­sics re­mains a maid­en af­ter eight starts. In­ter­est­ing­ly, on­ly two of those starts have been over dis­tances be­yond one mile (the two Clas­sics) and in both races, she was a one paced but stay­ing on third. Her maid­en races have been over short­er dis­tances and she was again third over 1,100m in her Der­by prep on Au­gust 31. That dis­tance would have been woe­ful­ly short for her. This fil­ly is prob­a­bly one of the few that is like­ly to still be­ing mov­ing for­ward at the end of this race and could run in­to one of the mi­nor places. The oth­er two con­tenders, Hot Rod Kash­ton and Cap­i­tal Tee are un­like­ly to fig­ure at the fin­ish.

There re­mains one Der­by, how­ev­er, and some­one must win. In an­oth­er low qual­i­ty edi­tion, the class of Head­lines Again should en­able this fil­ly to top this op­po­si­tion while Se­cret Pages could run in­to the places giv­en her pref­er­ence for longer dis­tances.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored