Nelson bags four-timer

EDMONTON, Alberta (CMC):

Jamaican jockey Dane Nelson stole the show with a four-timer on Saturday’s 10-race card at the Century Mile Racetrack.

Nelson moved into second in the jockeys’ standings on 14 wins – three behind current leader Enrique Alonzo Gonzalez and four ahead of third-placed reigning champion Rico Walcott of Barbados.

Walcott was absent from racing at western Canada’s main racing oval after he travelled to Vancouver in the neighbouring province of British Columbia to ride at the Hastings Racecourse.

N’Rico Prescod, his compatriot, kept the Barbadian flag flying at Century Mile, however, with a commanding win in the fourth race.

Nelson got his first win on the 3-1 bet Convince, edging the seven-year-old, bay mare clear of rival Out Front, under Mauricio Malvaez, and holding her under a late drive to win by half-length in the third race going 1300 metres on the dirt in one minute, 16.68 seconds.

He followed up with a convincing five-length win on the 8-1 chance Pump the Brakes, getting the three-year-old bay gelding to open up after vying for the lead in the fifth race going 1100m on the dirt for a time of 1:04.81.

Nelson added to his haul with a comfortable five and a half llength win on the 4-1 choice Wheelsupinthirty after gaining the lead at the top of the homestretch and pulling away to finish in 1:10.60 in the sixth race going six furlongs on the dirt.

But he had to work to clinch his final win, prevailing by a bob on the 2-1 chance Slaats after duelling with Asyoubelieve, under Gonzalez, into the stretch in the seventh race over six furlongs on the dirt. The final time was 1:09.26.

In between, Prescod poached his fourth win of the season when he drove the 3-5 favourite Decoy to a commanding six-length win in the fourth race going six furlongs on the dirt.