Sun | May 12, 2024

Nunes putting rivals on notice for 2021

Published:Tuesday | December 29, 2020 | 12:13 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
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NUNES
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DACOSTA
DACOSTA
FEANNY
FEANNY
PARSARD
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UNIVERSAL BOSS, with Simon Husbands aboard, strides to victory at Caymanas Park on Saturday, February 8, 2020. This is one of the many horses who helped Anthony Nunes to retain his Trainer’s Championship title this season.
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UNIVERSAL BOSS, with Simon Husbands aboard, strides to victory at Caymanas Park on Saturday, February 8, 2020. This is one of the many horses who helped Anthony Nunes to retain his Trainer’s Championship title this season.
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Having wrapped up his second consecutive Trainer’s Championship title at Caymanas Park on Sunday, Anthony Nunes said he has nothing to fear from rivals as he plans how to repeat his success next year.

Nunes tallied stakes earnings of $55,090,430 to win the title ahead of 18-time champion Wayne DaCosta.

However, next year’s championship will see the return of 14-time champion trainer Philip Feanny, who recently declared that he will be training a number of horses he describes as classics in 2021.

Nunes told The Gleaner that he is not fazed by Feanny’s recent comments because he always wants to beat the best at all times.

“I am not nervous at all,”he said. “I am excited because I consider myself a competitor, I am a two-time champion now and you want to compete against the best.

“Wayne DaCosta is fantastic. He is an 18-time champion and Philip Feanny is an icon, and you want to test yourself against the best at all times and I look forward to 2021.”

Nunes said that his barn is not as talented now as it was over the last three years, but he is confident that he will be able to retain his title next season.

“I don’t think that we have the talent level that we did in the last three years, because I felt that we had talented horses in 2018 when we lost,” he said.

“I think that my talent is a little less going into 2021, but that doesn’t mean anything because I am still going to compete and do my best to win the championship.

“I have said it before that every year my goal is to win the championship and if it happens, then that will be fantastic, and if it doesn’t, then we will keep trying.”

Ian Parsard, who was voted the most improved trainer in 2019, said that he is happy that Feanny will be making himself more involved in racing in 2021.

“It is going to be good for the sport and it will be good for more excitement and competition,” Parsard said. “He is referred to as ‘the maestro’ and I know that he would have had multiple fans over the years and decades, so I am sure that they will look forward to him being more involved on the training side.”

robert.bailey@gleanerjm.com

1. Anthony Nunes – $55,090,430

2. Wayne DaCosta – $47,424,000

3. Gary Subratie – $40,179,260

4. Ian Parsard – $22,570,375

5. Patrick Lynch – $15,971,020