- Sunday 06, March-2005 by TYRONE EVELYN

Winning owner Luther Miller with the Gold Cup.

FEET ON FLAMES brought back gold- cup glory to Barbados with a spectacular win in the 24th running of the prestigious Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup at the Garrison yesterday.

Expertly ridden by Anderson Trotman, Feet On Flames was sent to the front shortly after the gates opened and the Clayton Greenidge-trained six-year-old proceeded to run his field ragged.

When he made his final turn into the homestretch with a commanding lead and it was clear he was not going to be caught, a loud and spontaneous cheer went up from the hundreds of patrons in the Grand Stand to salute the victory.

Even before he had passed the winning post, jockey Trotman stood tall in the saddle and punched his left hand in the air signalling his great victory.

It was the first win in the big race by a Barbadian-owned horse since Federico became the second creole to win the Gold Cup in 1998. Feet On Flames’ win also avenged the defeat inflicted on him by Canada’s Kathir in last year’s race.

Kathir, the subject of a legal battle between owner Eugene Melnyk and the Barbados Turf Club because the horse was disqualified after testing positive with a foreign substance, stayed on to finish second, just ahead of Storm Hunter and Strong Opinion.

Pre-race favourite Peace Angel, an impressive winner of the final Gold Cup warm-up, the Coolmore Stakes, never fired yesterday and finished down the field.

Thady Quill, the 2003 Gold Cup winner, finished out of the money as he had done in the Coolmore and showed he was not yet ready for a race as exacting as the Gold Cup.

Trainer Greenidge was also successful with Birdie Point in the Sandy Lane Spa Stakes Sprint, the first of the day’s three feature races.

Birdie Point, with Juan Crawford aboard, had to overcome an objection lodged against him on behalf of the second-placed Van Gogh.

The third and final feature race, the Tanglewood Stakes for West Indies-bred four-year-olds going 2 000 metres, went to the DeVere Davis-owned Super Style.

The Bill Marshall-trained Super Style, despite jockey Jono Jones putting up four pounds overweight, ran a corker to get home ahead of last race day winner Cat Attack, and Scarlett Prince.

The Super Style-Cat Attack forecast paid $591.40 on a $2 ticket, while the Super Style-Cat Attack-Scarlett Prince-Supremelysatisfied superfecta paid the mammoth dividend of $19 784 60, but there was no winner.

Jockey Ricky Walcott bounced back to form by winning the first two races. He scored on Naz Issa’s Maeve in the opening event, and followed up on Bandanna Day, also for Issa, in the next race.

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