Doubling up! - DaCosta eyes Lotto Sprint Trophy and Lotto Classic Governor's Cup glory

CHAMPION trainer Wayne DaCosta has an outstanding chance of landing a unique double on Saturday with full siblings, SHE'S A MANEATER and WITHOUT EXCEPTION, as ante-post favourites for the grade one Lotto Sprint Trophy and Lotto Classic Governor's Cup for three-year-olds.

Both horses will have Omar Walker aboard, eyeing a combined purse of nearly $2.6m, stakes badly needed by DaCosta, who is being hounded by Anthony Nunes sitting $600,000 off the lead atop the trainers' standings.

Though Horse of the Year SHE'S A MANEATER generates an electric feeling whenever she graces Caymanas Park, be it exercise gallop or race day, the super filly will have to share the spotlight with her little brother, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, who has emerged as DaCosta's saving grace in this year's three-year-old classics after a near clean sweep last season.

WITHOUT EXCEPTION comes in at 123lb in the 10-furlong condition event, three pounds lighter than December's Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes winner, MARQUESAS, even though he had not participated in that race and had finished ahead of Michael Marlowe's runner when they eventually met at level weight in April's 2000 Guineas.

A length separated WITHOUT EXCEPTION and MARQUESAS for third and fourth, respectively, behind COMMANDER TWO and, sadly, since-deceased WESTERN LEGEND, in the 2000 Guineas at a mile.

Whereas COMMANDER TWO's trainer, Patrick Taylor, has opted to bypass the Lotto Classic, saying he won't run the Derby twice, more so allowing everybody weight, a clear reference to the conditions of the event, which were designed to dissuade top horses, DaCosta needs to prove WITHOUT EXCEPTION's mettle in the 11-horse field.

Marlowe also has a point to prove with MARQUESAS, who closed out a hat-trick of wins by landing the Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes but finished fifth in the Prince Consort Stakes and fourth in the Guineas, failing to reproduce the turn of foot he had shown as a juvenile.

However, since twice galloping MARQUESAS in a visor at exercise, Marlowe has been convinced to go with the head gear for the Lotto Classic, hoping it will make his runner more attentive and not having to close from 10 lengths off the lead as he did in the Guineas.

Similarly, DaCosta got around to figuring WITHOUT EXCEPTION's three inexplicably poor runs, after starting his career with a hat-trick, was strangely linked to his tongue tie and figure eight, which he had won those races in but, somehow, appeared to be the problem after he returned to the winners' enclosure on their removal early last month.

Proving DaCosta right, WITHOUT EXCEPTION disputed the lead with COMMANDER TWO to the half-mile in the Guineas, a 45.3 split, and was two lengths behind the speedster, in 1:11.0, turning for home. To have finished two lengths behind, rallying at the end, was a great run from WITHOUT EXCEPTION, coming from post-position one.

MARGIN OF VICTORY

The lighter horses will definitely have a say, especially the pacier ones such as LIGHTNING MCQUEEN and OUTRAGEOUS TAJ, who MARQUESAS rushed past close home in the Guineas. OUTRAGEOUS TAJ was always ahead of MARQUESAS and was only a length behind after a mile, for which he now gets a 14lb weight swing.

The unknown in the event is Philip Feanny's LIGHTNING MCQUEEN, who, similar to OUTRAGEOUS TAJ, will carry 112lb, unbeaten in two six-furlong races in which he moved his time from 1:14.1 to 1:12.4, an improvement of 1.2 seconds, which was shown in the margin of victory dropping from 10 lengths among maidens to two and a quarter when facing non-winners-of-two races.

It appears, though, that despite getting loads of weight from WITHOUT EXCEPTION and MARQUESAS, LIGHTNING MCQUEEN and OUTRAGEOUS TAJ's stamina limitations might be exposed at 10 furlongs, especially with the pesky filly, MY SISTER, coming in at 110lb and knowing no other way to run but on the lead.

WITHOUT EXCEPTION's trump card should be the rest that he has got since the Guineas, which marked 20 and a half furlongs, three races in two weeks, as DaCosta tried to figure out what was wrong, not to mention the revving he got at exercise, leading up to those events.

Big sister SHE"S A MANEATER is spotting decent sprinters a lot of weight at five and a half furlongs, including old rival MONEY MAGNET and SIEMPRE BUENO. However, DaCosta has parachuted in last Saturday's overnight allowance winner, MR UNIVERSE, to give them hell on the lead, handing the stable star something to charge at in the stretch run.