WINNIPEG – Barbadian jockey Chris Husbands rode four winners on the nine-race card at Assiniboia Downs in this Canadian city Sunday, to wrap up his maiden title at the Manitoba racing oval.
Husbands started the final day just one ahead of his main rival Paul Nolan but produced a series of outstanding rides to widen the gap and ensure there were no hiccups.
He finished on 71 wins, four clear of Nolan, with Adolfo Morales third on 51 wins in the season that started May 5.
Jamaican jockey Tyrone Nelson finished down the standings with 19 wins, alongside Barbadian Renaldo Cumberbatch.
Jalon Samuel and Paul Leacock, both Barbadians, finished on 12 wins.
Husbands also led the colony in earnings with CAN$612 073. (BDS$1.1 million)
He opened his account in race two with favourite Cat’s Bolero, easily beating the three-year-olds and upward by 2-1/4 lengths in a six furlong trip.
Stormin Candy, with Cumberbatch aboard, set the pace with Cat’s Bolero pressing from off the rails. Husbands got the five-year-old roan gelding to the front at the half-mile and opened up in the stretch to win handsomely.
In race four over seven furlongs, Husbands swept another favourite Swedeville to victory by 1-3/4 lengths, to beat the three-year-olds and upward.
Swedeville, a four-year-old brown gelding, stalked the leaders Smartdressed Woman and CrackerJack Cat before taking command on the final turn and racing smartly to the wire.
Husbands scored again in a six-furlong sprint in race six, carrying another odds-on bet Eternal Valor to the wire by two lengths.
Once again, Husbands stalked from mid-pack before rousing the three-year-old bay gelding in the stretch and collaring the leaders.
He collected his fourth win of the day in the penultimate race, piloting 5-1 chance Lime Dancer to a convincing victory over the three-year-old and upward fillies and mares, going six furlongs. (CMC)
