Nyabinghi for Royal Dad Trophy

Orville Clarke, Gleaner Writer

The American 3-y-o colt NYABINGH, who recently won over the circular-nine course, is tipped to repeat over same distance when he renews rivalry with the runner-up, COLD GROUND, in today's Royal Dad Trophy for native and imported three-year-olds and up at Caymanas Park.

The race is run annually in honour of the legendary Royal Dad, who had the distinction of being the first Triple Crown winner at Caymanas Park, in 1981.

'The Dad', as he was affectionately called, also held the all-time record of 11 consecutive wins that year, before it was broken 15 years later by another Triple Crown winner, WAR ZONE, who won 12 straight.

ROYAL DAD, who was trained by many-time champion Kenneth Mattis, collapsed and died on the track minutes after winning the mile-and-quarter Governor General's Stakes by a wide margin on Saturday, October 16, 1982. Horse of the Year in 1981, ROYAL DAD is one of 38 racehorses to have been inducted into the Hall of Fame of thoroughbred racing in Jamaica.

The Royal Dad Trophy has attracted six starters, and despite the presence of the recent upset winner RHEA-MARIE and proven campaigner DON GEORGE, who went close when sprinting recently, the race will more than likely come down to NYABINGHI and the native-bred three-year-old colt COLD GROUND, runner-up in the July 2 St Leger, to be ridden by Aaron Chatrie and leading jockey Dick Cardenas, respectively.

When both horses met over the distance on October 1, NYABINGHI got first run on COLD GROUND and held the Patrick Lynch-trained colt at bay by 1¹/² lengths, winning in the fairly good time of 1:56.3.

COLD GROUND enjoys a 2.0kg swing in the weights and this being the case, it could go down to the wire this time around.

Hang tough

Both jockeys have been riding well. But with the Peter McMaster-trained NYABINGHI expected to get first run on COLD GROUND entering the straight, I take him to hang tough in the last furlong with a repeat performance.

Other firm fancies on the card are the fleet-footed MR SKILL to make it four in a row in the first race over the straight, newcomer HUPOMONE (working exceptionally well) in the fourth for two-year-olds, BAY'S REPORT in the sixth, PRINCE TAFHARI to catch JELANI in the seventh, and CASSANOVA BOY to upstage old rival THE GUV in the 10th for open allowance horses over 1300 metres.