Let the Mile begin! - Top two runners get great draws

TRAINER Robert Pearson yesterday said he was "very happy" with WILL IN CHARGE drawing post-position eight in Saturday's Diamond Mile, adding that the Gold Cup winner, who lost the Superstakes by a head bob, is "smack in the middle, where he can watch the speedsters and make his move when ready".

Favourable draw

Meanwhile, WILL IN CHARGE's main rival, defending champion and Superstakes heroine, Wayne DaCosta's SHE'S A MANEATER, also got a favourable draw, out wide at post-position 12 in the 16-horse field, unlike the seven-furlong Gold Cup, when she had to break out of the one hole, against the dummy rail, and was slowly into stride, eventually finishing a disappointing third.

DaCosta, who leads Anthony Nunes by a little under $1M in his bid to notch an 18th overall and 13th consecutive trainers' championship, depending on SHE'S A MANEATER to snatch the $6.6M Diamond Mile winner's purse, had little to say except that "the draw is good".

Meanwhile, the draw at Ribbyz Ultra Lounge in Barbican, St Andrew, revealed what most pundits figured would have been a title-chasing move by Nunes - not nominating Oaks-winning filly FAYROUZ, allowing his Superstakes third-place BIGDADDYKOOL to get into the Diamond Mile.

BIGDADDYKOOL AILING

BIGDADDYKOOL, who had been ailing from a hoof injury, made a late debut this season and had failed to break into the Diamond Mile list of 16 made up of top earners and win-and-you're-in races such as the Jamaica Derby. With none of the other 15 budging, including seven from DaCosta's barn, Nunes sacrificed his queen for his king, withholding FAYROUZ from the nomination process.

A confident Pearson was willing to talk tactics, saying that DaCosta's MR UNIVERSE, who had skipped the Gold Cup but is now expected to be a rabbit for SHE'S A MANEATER, "should be the tearaway leader for a long way, but his speed should collapse at the quarter".

"We should take him on somewhere there. He's not faster than SIEMPRE BUENO, who we engulfed at the half-mile," Pearson said in reference to the Gold Cup, which WILL IN CHARGE took over early down the backstretch and almost smashed Eros' track record in the process.

"We should catch him at the quarter. My horse is very versatile. He will sit, watch and make his move at the half-mile. He had issues going into the Superstakes but has trained very well," he added.

DaCosta, meanwhile, played down MR UNIVERSE's presence in the race, saying, "He has good speed, and, if left alone, could cause a problem," knowing very well that his filly hasn't lost a race in which both have run this season.

1 Without Exception

2 Bigdaddykool

3 Drummer Boy

4 Uncle Frank

5 Disability Charm

6 Drone Strike

7 Mr Universe

8 Will In Charge

9 Sarah Lee

10 Another Bullet

11 Peking Cruz

12 She's A Maneater

13 Money Magnet

14 Perfect Neighbour

15 Chace The Great

16 Hover Craft

Reserves

Houdini's Magic

Saratoga Sight

Hilly's Halo