Nautical Star to shine in Mouttet Mile - Of A Revolution favoured to land Bruceontheloose Sprint

NAUTICAL STAR and OF A REVOLUTION, United States-bred runners owned by One Guyana Racing, are ante-post favourites for tomorrow's co-features at Caymanas Park, the $18m Bruceontheloose Sprint and $45m Mouttet Mile.

Both runners were trained in North America by Saffie Joseph Jr, a third-generation Barbadian conditioner, who won the Triple Crown in his homeland at age 22 before moving tack to Florida where he has since won 1,428 races, his runners amassing US$75.8 million in stakes.

Anthony Nunes, who has long had Barbadian and Trinidadian horse-racing connections through owners such as the late Elias Haloute and Stephan Narinesingh, who powered him to three titles, 2019-21, will send out NAUTICAL STAR and OF A REVOLUTION in hunt of $33m in stakes as he seeks to overturn a $15m deficit within an hour against arch-rival, Jason DaCosta.

Jason, son of the late Wayne DaCosta, an 18-time champion dethroned by Nunes in 2019, has held the trainers' crown for three consecutive years, 2022-24, since taking over his father's barn on his passing in 2021.

REGAIN TITLE

Eager to regain the title, Nunes has deployed his nemeses' playbook, top-class imported runners, but specifically aimed at the biggest purses in the Caribbean, a $33m double strike, which would leave DaCosta with little room to respond in the final month of the racing season.

OF A REVOLUTION blazed 58.3 from the gate, out the straight, two Saturdays ago, the first four furlongs in 45.1. Last Saturday morning, he clocked 1:06.2 for five and a half furlongs.

Sired by Maclean's Music out of the Salt Lake mare, Hot Spell, OF A REVOLUTION has won at Charles Town, Gulfstream Park, Keeneland, Monmouth Park, Oaklawn Park and Parx Racing, achieving his highest speed rating, 126, after placing third in the six-furlong Gallant Bob (Grade Two) at Parx in September 2022.

At age six, OF A REVOLUTION is among peers in the Bruceontheloose. DESERT OF MALIBU and WALL STREET TRADER, local-based Americans, also six-year-olds but none with the resume to match the American invader with Raddesh Roman aboard.

OF A REVOLUTION clocked 1:16.4 for six and a half furlongs when winning last August on the dirt at Gulfstream Park. In June, he placed third behind 1:10.0 for six furlongs at the South Florida racetrack.

A FORMALITY

Should OF A REVOLUTION report anywhere close to his Gulfstream Park form, the Bruceontheloose will be a formality, putting Nunes halfway to overhauling DaCosta.

NAUTICAL STAR, a five-year-old, has won at Gulfstream and Oaklawn Park. Similar to OF A REVOLUTION, NAUTICAL STAR is a traveller, having also competed at Mahoning Valley and Parx Racing.

Lining up against an all-star cast of local-based foreigners including last year's champion FUNCAANDUN and runner-up LEGACY ISLE, NAUTICAL STAR last raced at Gulfstream in August, finishing fifth in the Benny The Bull Handicap at seven furlongs, his second race off a 15-month lay-up.

Prior to going off on a 13-month break, NAUTICAL STAR had finished third in back-to-back races, a mile and eight and a half furlongs, respectively. Both events were won in fast times, 1:36.3 and 1:43.4.

Certainly not devoid of pace, NAUTICAL STAR has won six-furlong events in 1:10.3 and 1:11.0 at Oaklawn Park, plus a seven-furlong in 1:23.0 at Gulfstream Park in 2023.

Galloping at Caymanas Park on consecutive Saturdays, clocking 1:25.4 for seven furlongs and 1:12.1 for six, both instances out the mile chute, NAUTICAL STAR should complete a Nunes sweep for Guyanese connections.

LOCAL CAST

The local cast of imported runners are all exposed. Defending champion FUNCAANDUN has seen better days and has been rendered toothless since jockey Robert Halledeen was handcuffed by the stewards for repeated whip violations.

LEGACY ISLE, last year's runner-up to FUNCAANDUN, won the Gold Cup by a diminishing half-length from RIDEALLDAY, who actually skipped a class for the grade-one event. RIDEALLDAY winning the Port Royal Sprint has bumped him up to 119lb, sitting level with LEGACY ISLE, only seven pounds lighter than NAUTICAL STAR, a multiple overseas winner.

Were NAUTICAL STAR and OF A REVOLUTION to complete the Mouttet Mile Day sweep for One Guyana Racing, it would mark a return to the days of regional rivalry among horsemen.

Jamaica-bred and raced runners such as Mr Lover Lover, Terremoto, Bruceontheloose and Bigman In Town have won the Trinidad and Tobago Derby.

In 2024, Momentum, a Jamaica-bred, who had never raced locally after being purchased by Trinidadians at the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association of Jamaica's annual Yearling Sale, won the twin-island republic's derby.

The Trinidadians have also led successful raiding parties to Jamaica, winning the island's biggest race then, the Superstakes, on three occasions -Baree Bahim (1986), Adoring Groom (1996) and My Friend Rich, awarded the 1997 event at odds of 99-1 after PW 's Choice's disqualification.

One Guyana Racing and other owners from the now oil-rich territory, have taken aim at Jamaica's racing. SHEER DELIGHT, a United States-bred owned by Jeremy Rachpaul, lines up in the $6m Chairman's Plate against Maharaj's PRETTY PERFECT and this year's Jamaica Derby winner, I DREAM AGAIN, an event which has the filly RUN JULIE RUN, last year's derby runner-up, as the ante-post favourite.