Maragh canters into lead

HALLANDALE BEACH, Miami (CMC):

Rajiv Maragh landed a second straight double at Gulfstream Park on Thursday to take sole ownership of the early lead in the jockeys' championship.

The Jamaican jockey now has four wins in the two-day old season, after similarly landing a pair of wins on Wednesday's opening day.

Maragh steered 2-1 chance Cenizo to victory by a head in the US$15,000 second race over 1,200 metres on the dirt.

He pressed the pace aboard the three-year-old grey filly outside Joan's Royal Dawn, under Javier Santiago, and took over in the turn before edging away in the stretch and repelling a late challenge from Upfrontn' Dangerous, ridden by Paco Lopez, to clock one minute, 12.04 seconds.

Maragh later drove 5-1 bet Let's Do It to a 2 1/4-length victory in the US$28,000 sixth race going 1,600m on the turf.

He raced off the pace astride the three-year-old bay colt, angled four wide on the far turn, then responded to pressure in the stretch and rallied to draw clear late in one minute, 36.47 seconds.