No stopping Bootylicious in Sunday’s feature

BOOTYLICIOUS ambushing Mouttet Mile runners, DESERT OF MALIBU and PACK PLAYS, on Christmas Eve will go down as the five-year-old mare’s most impressive of eight wins to date, a victory she should follow up in Sunday’s Reggae Month Trophy at five furlongs straight.

Carrying a mere 106lb with Panamanian Ismael Velasquez, BOOTYLICIOUS proved that handicaps matter and weight stops trains. Tearing away from PACK PLAYS, who allowed her 11lb, BOOTYLICIOUS found a fifth gear with the lightweight when topweight DESERT OF MALIBU came calling with 126lb in the stretch run.

On top of her game at age five, BOOTYLICIOUS hunts a fourth win from her last five starts, throwing a scare in last November’s Distaff at a mile, caught a half-furlong out by POWER FROM ABOVE.

BOOTYLICIOUS has been bumped up to 121lb, breaking from the dreaded post-position one out the straight. However, the mare’s speed should have her quickly cutting across rivals towards the faster stands’ side without much exertion.

Unlike the Chris Armond, a grade-two sprint for horses exiting the grade-one Mouttet Mile, the Reggae Month Trophy has no such terrors. PACK PLAYS, who BOOTYLICIOUS left sputtering three furlongs out in the Chris Armond, returned to clock 1:18.1 in the Eileen Cliggott at six and a half furlongs on January 25.

PACK PLAYS ran three-time Jamaica Cup winner ATOMICA off her legs and was still strong enough to thwart fellow American WALL STREET TRADER, the ante-post favourite for division one of Saturday’s Allan E ‘Billy’ Williams Trophy.

Canadian ATLANTIC CONVOY, winner of the Bruceontheloose Sprint on Mouttet Mile Day, is drawn widest at post-position seven with Will In Charge trophy winner, BLUE VINYL, to his inside at stall six.

As talented as he is, ATLANTIC CONVOY is no match in a sprint for BOOTYLICIOUS, who has no matching speed to keep her honest after clearing the field.

BLUE VINYL, the 2022 Guineas and St Leger winner, had to track GEOLITHIC to win the Will In Charge. Unlike her stablemate, BOOTYLICIOUS will not be hanging around for any such pleasantries at the minimum trip.