Lord Michael Taylor’s colt – Daylight Express – wins the 2009 Sandy Lane Gold Cup horse race.
The 2009 running of the most prestigious annual horse race in Barbados, the Sandy Lane Gold Cup, attracted tremendous excitement March 7th, 2009, with local entrants from the same stable copping the two top places and over 200,000 dollars in winnings.
Lord Michael Taylor’s “Daylight Express” and “Bounce Bak” – both from the Blue Diamond Stables – took first and second places respectively in the 28th running of the Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup.
Thousands of race fans – locals and tourists – thronged the Garrison Savannah, to witness jockey Andy Ward push the American-bred four-year-old colt “Daylight Express” to victory just ahead of stable mate “Bounce Bak”, a five-year-old mare ridden by Desmond Bryan.
“I had to pull out all the stops to win this one,” declared a clearly delighted Ward after the race. ” ‘Bounce Bak’ is a top creole and was pretty tough to get by.”
It was the second consecutive Gold Cup win for both the Barbados-based Briton, Lord Taylor and for jockey Ward, who took the top prize last year in the 1800 metre event with “Pure Temptation”. “Pure Temptation”, with Jonathan Jones aboard, came in 5th this year,.
Lord Taylor, a director of the Barbados Turf Club (BTC), described the day’s attendance as the best in 10 years.
In the day’s other two feature races, Gay Smith’s creole “Zoom”, ridden by apprentice Antonio Bishop, won the Tanglewood Stakes and Trophy over 2,000 metres and “Who’s Cruisin'”, with Juan Crawford aboard, took the Sandy Lane Spa Sprint event, going 1100 metres.
This year’s was the 28th running of the Gold Cup, a key event on the 2009 Barbados sports tourism calendar. The race is sponsored by the up-market west coast Sandy Lane Resort, the island’s lone five diamond tourism property.
“It’s the first Gold Cup I’m attending and I’m extremely impressed,” said new Sandy Lane General Manager, Robert Logan.
“I’ve attended international races in other parts of the world, but the atmosphere here is very special,” he added.
Additional Information:
March 9th, 2009
https://www.totallybarbados.com/articles/entertainment/sports/horse-racing//
