A WEEK after HOMBRE shocked punters to land the ADL Superstakes at odds of 52-1, resulting in a $2.4 million Super-6 carryover, another long shot, 396-1 first-time runner LADY SHARMEELA, floored hopeful bettors in yesterday's fifth event, the Super-6 opener.
Almost all bets were crushed when sparingly used jockey Lynford Gayle brought the Patrick Fong-trained first-timer with a strong run inside the final quarter-furlong of the 1000-metre straight race to nail DE-BACHELOR at the wire, after the two had attacked and disposed of long-time leader CANTARRA in the rush for the wire.
stunning victory
LADY SHARMEELA's stunning victory at long odds caught even her trainer off guard, and Fong was as shocked as the thousands of punters who were hoping to make a winning start in a shot at the big Super-6 jackpot.
The filly returned $15,878 for a $40 win ticket and $588 to place, stumping most Super-6 bettors, who will now chase a carryover jackpot of $5.4m next Saturday.
Surprisingly, the Pick-9 a tougher bet than the Super-6, requiring punters to spot winners of nine consecutive races, of which LADY SHARMEELA's race was included, turned up one winner who pocketed an early Christmas gift of $1.6 million.
It was rather surprising that the normally more expensive-to-buy Pick-9 would have had a winner and the same punter had not tried his hand at the Super-6.
The most impressive performance came pretty early on the 10-race card as trainer Gary Subratie's American-bred RUNRON made an impressive debut in the opening event with title-chasing Paul Francis, blowing past FLINSTONE a furlong out to post 1:05.3 for 1100 metres.
history of swerving
Later in the afternoon, the even-money favourite QUEEN NERISSA had her number taken down after passing the post in front in the seventh event for the Impulse Energy Mile with Ameth Robles aboard.
The four-year-old filly, who has a history of swerving at the start, caused grave interference to LATENT POWER at post-position one, bumping into the gelding at the start.
LATENT POWER finished third and the race was subsequently awarded to second-past-the-post A TASTE OF ORILEYS.