THE final Grade 1 of the season on the US east coast threw up a feel-good story to close out a crazy year where all the classics were run on different dates.

At a wet Aqueduct, it was the outsider True Timber came through to win for trainer Jack Sisterson after the field had been reduced to six with the withdrawals of Firenze Fire, Majestic Dunhill and Mind Control.

The victory was a first at Grade 1 level for 36-year-old jockey Kendrick Carmouche.

“This is such a joy. It made my day. It made my year. I owe it all to my fans, my wife, my kids and everybody for how they stuck with me and kept pushing me to keep fighting in the game,” said Carmouche, who is one of the sport’s few Black riders in the US; he has a career total of over 3,300 wins.

“You have to stay in the game and be ready for opportunity when opportunity comes. I’m ready for any opportunity, and this is why I think things are going in the right direction.

“They’re giving me good horses to ride, and I think it’s going to open up eyes for other trainers and other owners that I can do the same thing, if not better, than those other guys,” Carmouche continued.

The six-year-old Calumet Farm-owned True Timber, a son of Mineshaft, had a 29-race career of placings in graded stakes races before this first win over the sloppy track at Aqueduct. He had finished third in last year’s Cigar Mile and second in the 2018 edition.

True Timber was third in the early stages of the Cigar Mile, sitting two lengths behind the King Guillermo, the three-year-old not seen since the Arkansas Derby, Mr. Buff after a half-mile in 45.82 on a sloppy, sealed track.

Midway round the turn, True Timber swooped past three wide and as the raced up the straight, he drew clear to win in 1m 36.49secs, by an easy five and a half lengths in what was the final graded stakes of the year in New York. Snapper Sinclair edged out the 4/5 favourite Performer for second.

True Timber had begun his career with Kiaran McLaughlin and continued with Jack Sisterson this summer after McLaughlin stopped training to become a jockeys’ agent. “As soon as I got the horse, the Cigar Mile was a year-end goal,” Sisterson said.

Sisterson had won his first career Grade 1 earlier in the year when he won the Personal Ensign Stakes with the filly Vexatious in August at the Saratoga meeting.

The odds-on favourite, Princess Noor had just taken the lead on the final bend when she was pulled up out wide and out of the race by Victor Espinoza.

The Zedan Racing Stables-owned filly left the track in the horse ambulance after walking into it and Baffert later reported from his barn:

“It looks like she might have hit herself above the ankle—there’s a tendon area that looks like some swelling there. We’re just going to monitor her for a few days, see if she did any damage there.”

Zedan Racing Stables released in a statement on Twitter on Sunday. “Princess Noor has been retired from racing after a soft tissue injury in the Starlet. She’s a star – she had the race and probably more Grade 1s to her name. Our focus is to get her healthy. It hurts, but we pray to God she’s well and retirement is the best decision.”

With Princess Noor out of the race, Kalypso, who had made the running, led again but she could not contain Varda, last of five coming into the straight who, rallied past the field under Drayden Van Dyke for a length and a half victory.

It was the fourth consecutive win in the Starlet for both Van Dyke and Baffert.

A daughter of Distorted Humor, who made $700,000 at the Ocala Spring sale in April from Niall Brennan’s consignment, Varda completed in 1m 44.53secs on a fast track.

She had been a distant second behind Princess Noor in the Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita in September.