Champion jockey Brian Harding piloting the Anthony Nunes-trained LA PRESIDENTA to victory in last Saturday's fifth race at Caymanas Park. The 2-1 second favourite won ahead of JET BLASTER (Omar Walker). - Colin Hamilton

(PORTMORE, CMC)

Champion jockey Brian Harding maintained a clear advantage in the run for Jamaica's 2006 jockeys title when he rode one winner at Caymanas Park on Saturday.

Harding piloted the three-year-old filly LA PRESIDENTA to victory in the fifth race to boost his tally of wins this season to 87. Title-chasing Wesley Henry scored two wins but Harding holds a valuable eight-win advantage in the championship race with only seven race days remaining in the season.

Henry, stalking Harding in recent months in a lively championship battle, scored the first of his two wins with the U.S.-bred filly LADY HASTINGS in the dayÕs first race, the Dye Job Sprint over six furlongs.

LADY HASTINGS was slowly out of the starting gates, but recovered steadily and produced a strong finish to win by two and three quarter lengths in one minute 13.4 seconds.

Henry's second win came in the seventh race, the Gerry Skelton Memorial Trophy event astride the four-year-old filly GIRL IN GOLD.

Trailing in the nine-horse field down the backstretch of the 5-1/2 furlong sprint, Henry roused GIRL IN GOLD for a spectacularly fast finish, and the 5-1 bet rushed to the front inside the final furlong for a one-length victory.

Harding was second aboard the 10-1 chance CHOSEN ONE, also finishing fast but outgunned by Henry and GIRL IN GOLD. Harding, who rode 109 winners here last year to secure his first jockeys' title outside of his native Trinidad and Tobago, got his win in the fifth race with the 2-1 second favourite LA PRESIDENTA for trainer Anthony Nunes and Barbadian owner Elias Haloute.

Under a well-timed ride from Harding, the three-year-old filly surged forward to take command inside the last furlong and won by two lengths.

LA PRESIDENTA clocked 1:20.0 for the six and a half furlong sprint, chased by JET BLASTER with the 4 - 5 favourite TWENTY NINE getting third.

Meanwhile, apprentice Carlton Malcolm rode a three-timer on the 11-race card. Malcolm won aboard ALL FIRED UP, SANTA ANITA'S GIRL and MALIKA to become the first among the recent graduates of the Jockeys' Training School to ride three winners on the same card.

Top Jockeys in Jamaica

1. Brian Harding 87 wins

2. Wesley Henry 79

3. Trevor Simpson 69

4. Charles Hussey 61

5. Oneil Mullings 50

6. Paul Francis 49

7. Dane Nelson 35

8. Richard Mitchell 20

9. Carlton Malcolm 19

10. Larris Allen 16

Carlton Malcolm aboard MALIKA. - Colin Hamilton