Phenomenal Power Storms to Diamond Mile Victory in Record Time at Caymanas Park

Whatever uncertainty still surrounded Phenomenal Power vanished on Saturday when the three-year-old American-bred bay colt powered home a length in front to take the $10-million Diamond Mile at Caymanas Park.

The display settled the questions raised by his flat fifth-place effort behind Desert of Malibu over six furlongs (1,200m) on July 18. That outing had come a fortnight after the colt smashed the seven and a half furlong (1,500m) track record on July 4, leaving bettors and racing insiders unsure which Phenomenal Power would turn up for the mile feature.

Carrying odds of 9-1 in the Graded Stakes over one mile (1,600m), he left the gates cleanly and tucked into third behind Legacy Isle (Bebeto Harvey) and Pack Plays (Jaheim Anderson). Approaching the five-furlong marker, Tajay Suckoo committed early, launching a long, sustained bid that carried the colt to the front.

From that point the contest was effectively over. Phenomenal Power lifted his rhythm around the half-mile bend and had daylight on his rivals turning into the straight. Kept up to his work by Suckoo, the Adrian Prince runner extended his margin late to beat Girvano (Tevin Foster) into second, with Barnaby (Eric Haughton) taking third.

He was never troubled, halting the clock at 1:34.40 for a Diamond Mile stakes record. The former standard of 1:35.1 belonged to She's A Maneater from 2019, and Saturday's time fell only one-fifth of a second shy of the track record of 1:34.3 that Wantin An Havin established in 1997.

Victory also booked Phenomenal Power an automatic place in the US$300,000 Mouttet Mile scheduled for December.

It capped a treble on the programme for Suckoo, who had earlier guided Danka home for trainer Richard Azan in the fifth and Boss Man for trainer Peter-John Parsard in the seventh. Parsard enjoyed a banner afternoon of his own, adding three further victories to Boss Man's success on the 11-race card. He sent out Turnonthelight (Raddesh Roman) to take the opener, along with Manoletti Majesty in the sixth and D Head Cornerstone in the 10th. Racing resumes next Saturday.