KINGSTON, Jamaica - Following Real Boss’s victory in the $1.02-million Louis Hitchins Memorial Cup over nine furlongs (1,800m) on Saturday, September 24, 2022, trainer Spencer Chung said that he was confident that his charge would win as the longer the races are, the better it will be for the American-bred runner.
Ridden by Shane Ellis, Real Boss came well off the pace to beat rivals going away by four lengths in the native-bred three-year-old (non-winners of two)/imported three-year-old and upward (maiden) Restricted Allowance II contest.
Real Boss, running with the blinkers off and the visor on, was unable to go with the early leaders and had to settle in mid-pack down the backstretch as Power of Faith (Samantha Fletcher) led the field ahead of Rainsville (Omar Walker), Salute The Deputy (Oneil Mullings), GT Boy (Reyan Lewis), and Secret Emperor (Chris Mamdeen).
Still off the pace as the field made its way towards the half-mile (800m) turn, Real Boss came into view approaching the distance when she rounded horses into fourth place and looked dangerous on the inside rails.
Coming off the turn and into the lane, Real Boss kicked into top gear and blew past rivals in deep stretch to win handily. GT Boy finished in second place. The final time was clocked at 1:54.4.
"Well, you will always be pleased with a win; I mean, a win is a win. She always showed that she wanted to go long and, it is as long as it gets coming out of the chute at nine furlongs. "We haven’t been out of the chute in a long while and so I was just a little worried about the conditions down there, but it seemed to be fine and she got a patient ride by the jockey and that was good," Chung said.
"The change in racing equipment was to try and get more from the horse, but in the end, it is all about the stamina going long. Her next race would be in the non-winners of three Restricted Stakes group, anything going long, " Chung added.
