She's a Maneater to devour Front Runner

CHAMPION trainer Wayne DaCosta's first-time runner, SHE'S A MANEATER, has been chewing up the exercise track at Caymanas Park since taken to task by her shrewd conditioner.

Set to face seven rivals in Saturday's Front Runner Sprint, if her name was not fearsome enough, the bay filly's exercise spins tell the tale.

In her first gallop beyond a half-mile, she clocked 1:00.2 for five furlongs round on September 3. Returning a week later, she blazed 1:06.0 for five-and-a-half, the last five in 59.3.

Satisfied with what he observed those two mornings, DaCosta cut back on the throttle in her follow-up work, 1:03.2, listed as easy by Caymanas Track Limited's clocking team.

A half-sister to last year's 2000 Guineas winner, DaCosta-trained ALI BABA, SHE'S A MAN EATER's dam is the famed AHWHOFAH, a Caribbean Sprint champion, Gold Cup winner and 2010 Horse of the Year.

November handover

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Audley Shaw on Thursday gave the clearest date yet for what is anticipated to be Supreme Ventures Limited's takeover of Caymanas Park.

In a Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission-hosted forum at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston, Shaw's prepared speech read:

Subsequent to the approval of Supreme Ventures Limited as the preferred bidder for the CTL divestment in March 2016, a six-member negotiating team was appointed on April 8.

'Negotiations have been finalised and the proposed terms will be presented to the Cabinet for approval by early October. Every effort is being made to effect handover no later than November 2016.'

This came a week after a press conference called at Caymanas Park by Caymanas Track Limited (CTL) at which Chairman Danville Walker made a similar statement, minus the November timeline.