etobicoke, ontario, cmc

Barbadian jockey Jono Jones added to his impressive log of stakes wins at Woodbine this season with a fine victory in the Natalma Stakes astride the second favourite C Karma for Trinidadian trainer Gregory De Gannes on Sunday.

A 5-1 bet in the 10-horse field, C Karma landed the one-mile event on turf for two year-old fillies by a neck for her first stakes victory in a close four-horse finish.

The winning time on a soft track was one minute 40.74 seconds as C Karma won ahead of the 46-1 outsider Freyga.

The victory earned C Karma a ticket to next month's rich Breeders' Cup race day in California.

For the first half-mile, winning jockey Jones settled the filly about 2-1/2 lengths off the pace in fourth position.

At the top of the stretch, Jones angled C Karma outside for a clear path and she seized command inside the final furlong.

Under a fine ride, C Karma fought off Freyga, Koonunga Hill (13-1) and After the Applause (5-1) to win.

Brief lead

Koonunga Hill actually snatched a brief lead at the eighth pole and battled on to finish just three quarters of a length behind Freyga, and a neck in front of the fast finishing After the Applause.

C Karma is now set to compete in the US$1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita on October 24.

The win was one of four on the card for Jones and boosted the Barbadian's tally of stakes wins this season to 11.

Jones, whose added money triumphs so far this season includes the CAN$1 million Queen's Plate, also brilliantly won the CAN$84,806 third race over 1-1/8th miles with the 2-1 bet Royal Challenger.

Twisting his way out of traffic trouble, Jones adeptly steered the five-year-old through a narrow opening and won by a neck in 1:52.42.

Jones also won the CAN$23,780 fifth race over 5-1/2 furlongs with the three-year-old filly Wave Baby Wave (10-1) by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:06.04.

After winning the Natalma, race six on the card, Jones completed his four-timer in the CAN$62,360 eighth race over six furlongs, scoring with the 2-1 favourite You're Funny by a head in 1:10.31.

Jones now has 51 wins this season and is currently eighth in the jockeys' championship race, which has James McAleney (108) as leading rider over Barbadian Patrick Husbands (82) and Trinidadian Emile Ramsammy (71).