Anderson Trotman may not have chosen to ride Dancin David.
But he’s certainly the one dancing now.
Clad in his bright rose red and black attire, Trotman captured his second Sandy Lane Gold Cup when he guided Aristodemus to a spectacular win yesterday at the Garrison Savannah.
It proved to be the right choice in saddling up the four-year-old chestnut colt, after he was also given the option to ride Dancin David, last year’s winner of the Caribbean’s most prestigious horse race.
But the veteran jockey opted for Aristodemus instead and it turned out to be a winning combination.
“I feel really good that I picked the right horse,” the 37-year-old Trotman told SUNSPORT shortly after beating Daga and Meteorite for the top spot.
“Dancin David is a good horse but I’ve been riding Aristodemus for a while and he is a very good horse.
“I always thought that once he got sufficient work before the Gold Cup that he would have a very good chance of winning the race, and in the end it was the right decision.”
It was an eight-year wait for Trotman to add to his 2005 triumph aboard Feet On Flames. Last year, he had to settle for second aboard John Bryan.
The win gave owner Sir David Seale his second consecutive title and seventh overall.
Trotman, who has been riding for more than 19 years, explained that the race went just as he had planned.
He said that he had expected his main challenge to come from Daga and Discreetwon, but in the end he came away with a comfortable victory by three lengths.
“My plan was to have a good break from the gates and keep him wide because I didn’t want to get blocked in,” Trotman said.
“I knew that Apostle would go to the front because he likes to dictate the pace, so I wasn’t too worried about that.
“But by the time I reached the two-furlong mark, I knew that I had the race won because that is when Aristodemus gave me that kick, and I just told him to bring it home.”
With his second victory, Trotman moved to joint sixth on the all-time list with Richard Quinn and one behind Trinidadian Emile Ramsammy, Anderson Ward and Patrick Husbands who each have three wins.
Venice Richards and Jonathan Jones currently share the top spot; both having ridden four winners.
