Maverick seeks redemption after Derby near‑miss

MAVERICK failed by a nose to pull off the biggest Jamaica Derby upset in history a month ago, running as an 82-1 longshot, caught at the last head bob by stablemate LONDON SPIRIT.

Returning in Sunday’s Winston ‘Fanna’ Griffiths Classic at nine and a half furlongs, Robert Halledeen has been called in to replace Calvin Bailey aboard the derby springer for the $3.8m Grade Two event restricted to non-winners of three-year-old classic races.

MAVERICK was the most unlikely horse to have been in front of the Jamaica Derby field a furlong and a half out, exploding past favourite WE JAMMIN, who his stablemates, BIGGER BOSS and EYE OF THE TIGER, had taken turns at in tag-team tactics on the lead.

When Reyan Lewis thought he had got rid of the Jason DaCosta threat, MAVERICK made a telling move on the home turn, circling his tiring stablemates to pounce on WE JAMMIN, sprinting three and a half lengths clear a furlong out before LONDON SPIRIT fell on him like a ton of bricks inside the last half-furlong.

Bailey, way down the pecking order in DaCosta’s roster of riders, should have been a mere passenger aboard the Carlton Watson-owned runner, out for his fourth run, nothing to suggest that he would have stayed the derby distance, having never run a route race, the farthest being a seven-furlong outing on his second run, playing second-fiddle to the imported COMUNA TRECE.

MAVERICK’s half-brother, EASY MONEY (Sunshine N Shadow - Midnight In Paris), had won two sprints for Anthony Nunes. MAVERICK’s running style also made him out to be a sprinter, having won on debut at six furlongs. However, being sired by Into Mischief’s Aveenu Malcainu appears to have injected stamina into MAVERICK’s pedigree, which almost upended the derby field.

DaCosta appears set to use the same playbook, BIGGER BOSS and EYE OF THE TIGER, taking early demands off MAVERICK for him to repeat his Jamaica Derby move with closer I LOVE BIRDIE in mind.

I LOVE BIRDIE, who tried to close as a team with LONDON SPIRIT, has already franked his Jamaica Derby form, outfinishing the filly MINEHAHA at a mile. Bred to stay, I LOVE BIRDIE is MAVERICK’s main threat after finishing a length and a half behind the derby runner-up.