It's Another Vigorous for Cash Pot Trophy
Published:Friday | October 13, 2017 | 12:00 AMAinsley Walters
FLASHY two-year-olds PATRIARCH and ANOTHER VIGOROUS face off this afternoon in the 1200-metre Cash Pot Only One for Me Trophy race, the first leg of the $12m Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL) Two-Year-Old Series, a trilogy of races which ends with the Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes in December.
ANOTHER VIGOROUS is one of three runners in the 10-horse line-up in with a shot at the million-dollar bonus to sweep the series, offered to runners who face the auctioneer at the annual Yearling Sale.
The last horse to have won the series was the flying filly, PRINCESS POPSTAR, who accomplished the feat in 2013 but was not a contender for the bonus.
Standing between ANOTHER VIGOROUS and a series-opening win is Anthony Nunes' PATRIARCH, bred in the purple (Casual Trick-Electrifying), a half-brother to Guineas and Oaks runner-up BILINGUAL.
PATRIARCH set tongues wagging on her September 16 debut by scoring a runaway 10-length win at 1000 metres straight, a super-fast 58.3, eased down by Panamanian jockey Dick Cardenas.
Long touted by clockers and railbirds as Nunes' 'big horse', PATRIARCH not only looked the part, but delivered the goods in convincing fashion.
Just when everybody thought they had seen the horse to beat, along came unheralded ANOTHER VIGOROUS, named by his owner, Lloyd Davis, for a succession of horses he raced under the 'Vigorous' moniker - Mr Vigorous and Lady Vigorous being the two most well known.
Unlike PATRIARCH, ANOTHER VIGOROUS is modestly bred, Legal Process-Miss Nickels, a half-brother to FIRST'K'BOY, a struggling nine-year-old, who last raced on the lowest of claiming tags, $120,000, and finished fourth in a three-furlong straight race on September 9.
ANOTHER VIGOROUS debuted a week after PATRIARCH and floored a field that included the favourite, champion trainer Wayne DaCosta's GREEK GODDESS. He won the 1100-metre race by almost three lengths in a cracking 1:05.4, a week after super-fast LOOSE CANNON posted the exact time to dismiss BILINGUAL in a three-year-old race.
The bay gelding had given ample warning of his ability before his debut, clocking 59.3 for five furlongs round at exercise on September 17, afterwards confirming stable confidence quietly raging in Rowan Mathie's barn.
Both horses have continued to train well and will undoubtedly start as favourites. In their final speed gallops, ANOTHER VIGOROUS again blazed 59.3 on the round course. PATRIARCH later took the track and clocked 1:00.2, almost a full second slower, beating up on stablemate NADESHICO (1:02.2).
ANOTHER VIGOROUS' consistency stands out and he will race with lasix administered this afternoon. It is proven that the raceday medication invariably improves horses' performance, which makes ANOTHER VIGOROUS a frightening prospect at 1200 metres.