Astonishing win | THULEAN of USVI wins $11,500 feature race

Moments before the curtains came down on Sunday’s horseracing event at the Ellis Thomas Downs on Tortola, THULEAN of St Thomas, US Virgin Islands bolted to claim a surprising victory over TOTALLY EVIL from the BVI.

“I didn’t expect him to win,” said a beaming Arturo Watlington — the owner of THULEAN.

“I know he is a come-from-behind horse and I expected TOTALLY EVIL to be in front. So I am surprised that he nailed TOTALLY EVIL but we spent a lot of money on him, and he and the trainer did good and upset the track.”

The race, which came with a purse of $11,500, was a showdown between Class A and Class B horses. While TOTALLY EVIL claimed second place in the feature race, MOONLIGHT BANDIT had to settle for third.

President of the Horse Owners Association Lesmore Smith described the showdown as a history-making race.

“It was a good day. TOTALLY EVIL, for the first time since he was acquired in the Virgin Islands, was beaten. It gives us the incentive to know that we are up against good-running horses and we are looking forward to doing much better for August and it’s going to be good,” Smith said.

“I feel he (TOTALLY EVIL) would have lost and he did because the distance was long. He is not used to going that far back, so I expected him to lose, and he did. It took much more out of him,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Enos Aaron — part-owner of The Boys Racing Stables — was also happy about claiming a victory during Sunday’s races.

His horse KING POWER won the fifth race, which was a six-and-a-half furlong run for Class A and Class B horses. It carried a purse of $7,500.

“This is the second time that this horse ran here. The first time I don’t think it was a 100 [percent], but now we had him in our hands a little longer. We knew he would do better today. And he proved himself and ran away with the field,” he said of the five-year-old horse.

“Today, we came out with three horses to run. This is the first race that we won,” he added.

BARRABAS KEY and FLASHIN CAT from St Thomas came in the second and third places.

Other results

ARTRA BY ME from St Thomas also took victory in its race which carried a purse of $6,000. MY SONG VENEZUELAN from St Thomas and QUEEN GRAVE from Tortola were second and third, respectively in the seven-furlong race.

MY RUNNING MATE from St Thomas won the second race of seven furlongs for Class C and Class D horses. The race carried a purse of $6,200. In second place was CENTRE GOLD from Tortola while GOLD’S GREATNESS from St Thomas third.

The third race of the day was a seven-furlong showdown between Class A and Class B mares and fillies. NADIAE’S IMAGE from Tortola was the victor of that race which carried a purse of $6,500. FRECKLE DE FRECK came in the number-two position while FASTER N BLAZES came in third.

CHOVANES from Tortola swept the top spot in race number-four. The race carried a purse of $7,500 and was a six-and-a-half furlong run for class A and B horses. CIANT VALLEY was second while St Thomas’s PUTTINGONASHOW came in third.