Top Barbadian rider Jono Jones will be going after his fifth straight Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup winner at the Garrison tomorrow, Gold Cup Day.

Son of former South Caribbean champion jockey and now trainer Chally Jones, Jono’s four wins in the region’s most prestigious horse race have placed him on level terms with another former champion jockey, Venice Richards, with respect to riding the most winners in the big race.

But unlike Richards, his four wins have come in succession, between the years 2000 to 2003, and this is a record.

And Jono will be going after an unprecedented fifth straight winner tomorrow when he mounts the Gay Smith-owned, Bill Marshall-trained American-bred colt Sharp Impact for the 1 800 metres event.

“The horse feels great and I’m hoping for the best on Saturday,” Jones told Weekend Sport after putting the American-bred colt through his paces yesterday.

Jones’ first Gold Cup win came in 2000 on the Irish-bred Blast Of Storm, trained by Marshall for owner Sally Arbib. He then went on to become the first jockey to register a hat-trick of wins in the Gold Cup when he piloted Blast Of Storm to victory in the 2001 and 2002 event.

And as if that wasn’t enough, he made it four in a row last year with an exciting win on Thady Quill, which provided owner Smith with her first Gold Cup win.

If the experts are right, the jockey/owner/trainer combination of Jones, Smith, and Marshall could be celebrating again tomorrow as Sharp Impact seems to have the best credentials to win the race.

Compliments of the Nation News

Gold For Jono - Monday 09, August-2004

Jones kisses the trophy after his fine victory.

Barbadian jockey Jono Jones stole the show ysterday when he copped one of the biggest races in the Canadian Horseracing season.
Jones was in winners’ row as he rode home A Bit OF Gold to win the Canadian Breeders Stakes and a top purse of CAN$500 000 at the Woodbine Racetrack, yesterday. Another Barbadian jockey Slade Callaghan was second on A Burst Of Fire.

Compliments of Nation News