Afternoon stroll for Mahogany

IAN Parsard's MAHOGANY used his terrifying mid-race pace early in the stretch run to kick clear of natural sprinters, GOD OF LOVE and LABAN, for a predictable five-and-a-quarter length win in yesterday's Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission Trophy at five and a half furlongs.

Now unbeaten in three runs since tasting defeat on his return from a six-month break in April, MAHOGANY clocked an out-of-class 1:05.1 on the recently sanded track to humble GOD OF LOVE on way to his 12th win from 19 starts.

Hustled from the gate by Dick Cardenas, MAHOGANY broke in front, spelling doom for his four rivals. LURE OF LUCY pressed for the first two furlongs before GOD OF LOVE assumed the chase. Straightening on top with GOD OF LOVE to his right and LABAN mending along the rail, MAHOGANY only needed one reminder from the whip that he was in a race, shooting clear a half-furlong out before being eased close home for Cardenas' second win of the afternoon.

The Sensational Slam-Mete-orite five-year-old gelding, who has now won seven of his last nine starts, will next race in grade one, having won consecutive races among open-allowance runners, a level he had similarly conquered late last season before being laid up.

Parsard wasn't as fortunate in the Emancipation Trophy as his bid for the feature-race double was flattened by leading trainer Jason DaCosta's down-in-class BATON ROUGE.

Plummeting from a $1 million claim tag on which he scored a 21-1 upset win on July 17, BATON ROUGE went gate-to-wire with Philip Parchment in the six-and-a-half furlong $750,000 event, winning easily from SPECIAL COUNSEL and Parsard's BERNING RED.

BATON ROUGE, a 3-1 chance, was DaCosta's second winner on the eight-race card following SIR JOHN's all-the-way win with Christopher Mamdeen, at odds of 4-1, in the second event at a mile.

Racing continues for a second holiday weekend, Saturday-Sunday, with the Jamaica Derby set for Saturday, a rematch between St Leger winner, BLUE VINYL and runner-up, the filly ATOMICA.