KINGSTON, Jamaica – Champion jockey Anthony Thomas had to ride all the way to get the job done on Chief Diplomat in the eighth of 11 races on the Gold Cup racing programme at Caymanas Park just moments ago.
The event a Maiden Condition for three-year-olds run over 9 furlongs and 25 yards saw Devine Lexie (Phillip Parchment) and Powersthatbe (Romario Smith) jostle for the lead with Chief Diplomat settled in third.
Powersthatbe took over halfway during the race with Thomas moving down into second while pushing to gain the ascendency three-furlong out. In the stretch drive, Chief Diplomat was persistently challenged by first Starboy Flyer and while faltering a bit had enough in the tank to hold the late sweep of 99-1 outsider Casual Peach (Roger Hewitt) by a decreasing neck.
The winning time posted by Chief Diplomat was 2:03.1.
Chief Diplomat is trained by Alford Brown and was the second winner on the day for Thomas.
