Lockdown stuns Nigel B Nunes Memorial field

LOCKDOWN yesterday stunned sprinters in the Nigel B Nunes Memorial Cup, scoring a 75-1 upset from the dreaded post-position one at five furlongs straight, his first attempt at the overnight-allowance level, turning tables on rivals who had beaten him up to a month ago.

Shunned in the betting, four-year-old LOCKDOWN was not only racing outside his preferred middle-distance sweet spot after beating non-winners of four races at a mile on September 19, the Ryan Darby-trained colt skipped non-winners-of-an-overnight-allowance to face previous winners at the level such as 4-5 favourite MONEY MARKET.

Always prominent on the far side, Paul Francis urged LOCKDOWN to tackle rail-running COMMANDER Z approaching the furlong pole before blasting past the United States-bred five-year-old, who twice factored in interference caused to MONEY MARKET, herding which cost the hot favourite what would have been a sure win.

MONEY MARKET was first squeezed at the start between fractious JOHNCROWJEFF bearing left and COMMANDER Z veering right. Shortly after the first infringement, MONEY MARKET was almost hauled up by Dane Dawkins when STARRRAURA crossed his path, herding him between COMMANDER Z.

With the race thrown wide open, MONEY MARKET recovered to challenge for the lead entering the main track but the effort took its toll inside the last furlong while COMMANDER Z tried stealing home along the rail after fighting off Jason DaCosta’s pair of STARRAURA and FORMALIST.

Travelling with not much urging from Francis, tapping the colt almost casually with back-handed whipping, LOCKDOWN surged forward and responded rapidly to one full stroke of the whip to zip past COMMANDER Z, winning the photo by a head from horses spread across the track, JOHNCROWJEFF and GET A PEPSI, also outsiders at 28-1 and 13-1, respectively.

The LOCKDOWN-JOHNCROWJEFF exacta returned $76,882, overshadowed by the quinella, which paid a whopping $384,760. The trifecta, LOCKDOWN-JOHNCROWJEFF-GET A PEPSI, paid a whopping $542,008.

LOCKDOWN’s stunner resulted in an astronomical Twilight 6 payout, $5,307,775, from a $2,160 stake. LOCKDOWN’s upset also left its imprint on the Placepot 8 for which there was no winner, sending a carryover of $539,198.56 to next Saturday, the start of the three-day Heroes Carnival meet, which features mandatory payouts of the Five Star and Reggae 6 on Sunday and Monday.