UP until 1974 the Jamaica Guineas was a futurity contested by eligible three-year-olds over a distance of nine furlongs. The following year, the separation of the sexes heralded the commencement of the British model of 1000 and 2000 Guineas over eight furlongs. Therefore, with the first leg of the traditional Triple Crown having two winners, it made for more intriguing seasons of Classic races.
This 50th renewal, staged as race 10, did not generate any significant talking points. The Ian Parsard-conditioned Run Julie Run (Reyan Lewis), having been the runner-up in the premier, one-mile, Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes, confirmed her promise with a nine-length margin of superiority in the 71⁄2-furlong Classic trial, The Portmore. Backed at odds of 2-5, Run Julie Run dominated proceedings in the Guineas to score by nearly five lengths.
She is now being touted as a safe bet to be competitive when pitted against the opposite sex in the remaining Classics. The opening event of the 10 races ended in victory for Bestdaughterinlaw (4-5) over 800 metres of the straight course. Ridden by two-kilogramme claimer Shane Richardson for the first of two successes on the card, the fleet-footed, lightly raced five-year-old mare won by a head in game fashion for trainer Vincent Atkinson.
Race two, a Restricted Stakes over five furlongs straight for three-year-olds and older, went to the US-bred three-year-old Chocomo (3-1), with Robert Halledeen executing the riding honours for a two-length win m.