Gordon Williams, Freelance Writer

2006 champion trainer at Calder Race Course, Kirk Ziadie ... 'We were dogging it out to the end.' - Contributed

For the horseracing gambler, the chance to win more than half the time he bets is truly sweet odds. Yet that's what happened when punters wagered on horses saddled by Jamaican-born trainer, Kirk Ziadie, during the recent 'Tropical at Calder' meet in the United States.

Ziadie saddled 25 winners from 47 entries at the Miami track, an astonishing 53 per cent first-past-the-post rate. Only 11 of his horses finished worse than third.

Ziadie's efforts secured him champion trainer at 'Tropical', the first time he had won any such title. Yet, it came only after a tense down-to-the-wire battle against William P. White during the 60-day meet.

He finally nosed out White by a single winner on January 2, the meet's last day, when the veteran saddled three of his 24 winners from 111 entries. White had won 'Tropical' five previous years.

Exciting duel

"It was exciting because it was a duel," said the 38-year-old Ziadie, who left Jamaica at age nine and earned his trainer's licence in 2003. "We were dogging it out to the end."

But while Ziadie was happy that gamblers thought his horses were a safe enough bet, he knew his success did not immediately make them rotten rich either.

Still, punters quickly decided that he was becoming closest to the 'sure thing' they always imagined. They consistently made his horses favourites, and Ziadie, a school dropout who turned to thoroughbred racing at age 14, was a long shot no more.

"It's not really a gambler's dream," he admitted, "because my horses don't pay anything."

PAY-OFF

Yet, his efforts may pay off much bigger in the homestretch.

Ziadie, the son of Ralph Ziadie, once a leading name at Caymanas Park, who has been a successful trainer in the U.S. for years, formed a formidable partnership with teenage apprentice jockey, Jermaine Bridgmohan, also from Jamaica, to dominate 'Tropical'.

Bridgmohan landed 110 winners to shatter the meet record and win the champion jockey's title by a wide margin after less than six months in the saddle.

The success of the Jamaican-born duo surprised many thoroughbred experts in the U.S., but not the youthful jockey-trainer tandem.

Kirk Ziadie, as Bridgmohan, said they planned to win 'Tropical' all along, and the trainer had no qualms trusting the inexperienced apprentice to carry out the riding task.

"The kid is very smart, very intelligent," Ziadie said. "So, I was willing to give him a shot."

The apprentice too, had faith in the trainer.

"He (Kirk) is the one who really stuck his neck out for me, when others wouldn't," he said.

While Bridgmohan rewarded Ziadie's confidence and blossomed into one of the most promising riders in the U.S., the trainer said the new year will also be his chance to step up.

Kirk Ziadie mounts narrowly missed earning US$2 million in purse money last year, including the US$445,300 his winners secured during 'Tropical'. The same target is among his main goals for 2007.

"I nearly made it in 2006," he said. "I came very close."

To maintain his winning formula, Ziadie said he would not increase his total 'string' of horses beyond 50, despite his success and growing offers from prominent owners. He likes to give the thoroughbreds hands-on attention.

"It's fun," he said.

He even claims to feed most of his charges himself, rather than turning over the task to assistants.

"I don't want to build too big," he said. "I want to know every horse personally."

Some of his horses are based at Calder, but the majority - about 75 per cent - are in Tampa, north of Miami, where they will race until May.

Winning formula

Ziadie plans to continue the same winning formula everywhere he goes.

"It was a team effort between me and the owners and the jockeys, everyone (to win 'Tropical')," said the trainer who landed his first winner with a US$10,000 claimer called Scottish Bubbly a few years ago at Calder. "So I picked my spots."

'Scottish Bubbly won five straight races at Calder for Ziadie, who eventually sold the horse for US$75,000. According to him, the horse's success "kinda put money in the bank for me".

Racehorse gamblers following Ziadie are now banking on him to do the same for them as well.

Gordon Williams is a Jamaican journalist based in the United States.