Perfect Neighbour romps Harry Jackson Memorial

BY RUDDY ALLEN Observer racing writer

Saturday, December 27, 2014    

The back-to-back Governor General’s Stakes winner Perfect Neighbour produced another sensational performance, this time romping the 52nd running of $1.25-million Harry Jackson Memorial Cup at Caymanas Park yesterday.

Installed as the second favourite at odds of 8-5, Perfect Neighbour with Shamaree Muir riding for champion trainer Wayne DaCosta and with a mere 52.5 kilogrammes in his back, took the Grade One event for three-year-olds and upward going over 2,400 metres by an ever-increasing four lengths in a smart time of 2:32:4 minutes, behind splits 24:2, and 48:1 seconds, 1:14:3, 1:38:3 and 2:06:4 minutes.

Passing the stands for the first time, Commanding Chief (Dane Nelson astride) led the field of six runners at a merry clip and continued to dictate the pace while being tracked by Military Move (Paul Francis aboard), Amicable (Kerry-Gayle Robinson up) and Perfect Neighbour.

Muir went in serious chase passing the 1,200-metre marker to be on the shoulders of the long-time leader Commanding Chief with the Superstakes hero and 2-5 favourite Typewriter, the mount of Shane Ellis, into third position and looking like a threat on the outside of a fading Military Move.

Perfect Neighbour then drew away from Commanding Chief with one half mile to go and from there on the dark bay colt was never caught.

Commanding Chief was second and Timeforarms (Laris Allen up) third ahead of Military Move in fourth.

“This is the best performance produced by Perfect Nieghbour in his career. He got a clean break today (yesterday) as he was up in the pace early and when Shamaree (Muir) asked him to run he just crippled his opponents easily,” DaCosta told the Jamaica Observer.

Perfect Neighbour, the offspring of Natural Selection – desperatehousewife is owned by Alfred Lee and Jeffery Mordecai and is bred by YS (1955) Limited, and was winning his fifth race from nine starts this season.

Apprentice Muir said he was happy with the win.

“I got a clean break today, but I just kept him relaxed and just asked him to run the last four furlongs of the race and he just destroyed the field. He was light with 52.5 kilogrammes, which I thought helped us as well, and I am happy to win.”

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Perfect Neighbour romps Harry Jackson Memorial

Michael Jackson: a provider 5 years after his death

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s been five years since Michael Jackson died, yet his career is more alive than it has been in decades.

Just last month, the singer moonwalked across a Las Vegas stage in a nationally televised hologram performance. A new album recently debuted at No 2 on music charts. And a travelling Cirque du Soleil show based on Jackson’s songs has logged nearly 500 performances worldwide.

The result has been an estate that has earned more than $600 million since the King of Pop’s untimely death at age 50.

Some of the earnings support Jackson’s three children and mother. Yet an analysis by The Associated Press shows much more has gone to erase the singer’s massive debts and to run the estate that powers his robust posthumous career.

As would be expected, the last five years have brought their share of change and adjustment for Jackson’s children, known to the world as Prince, 17; Paris, 16; and Blanket, 12. They were at their father’s rented mansion on June 25, 2009, when he was given an overdose of the anaesthetic propofol in his upstairs bedroom. And they were at the hospital several hours later when he was pronounced dead. It would take more than two years before Jackson’s doctor was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

A father who taught his children philanthropy, threw them lavish birthday parties and meticulously masked them from the paparazzi is gone. Michael Jackson, however, continues to provide.

Nearly $20 million had been spent to support Jackson’s children and his mother, Katherine, through 2012. Payments to the family have increased each year since June 2009, according to court records. Adulthood will bring a sizeable inheritance for each child.

In the meantime, lawyers have busily untangled Jackson’s finances, which itself has been expensive. Among the disbursements between mid-2009 and the end of 2012:

– More than $91 million on taxes and licenses, including $45 million paid to the federal government for taxes.

– More than $25 million in compensation for the estate’s executors, Jackson’s longtime attorney John Branca and family friend and music executive John McClain. The men receive a percentage of the estate’s earnings.

– More than $17 million to lawyers who represent the estate, Katherine and her grandchildren.

– Nearly $4 million to properly store and archive the trove of personal belongings and unreleased music that Jackson amassed during his lifetime.

While Jackson craved success, his priority in later years was his children. The trio is a large part of the singer’s legacy, and the music, dance moves and business pieces he left behind assure them a comfortable, if not care-free, lifestyle.

Jackson’s children live with their grandmother in a hilltop home in the celebrity enclave of Calabasas, home to the Kardashian family, Britney Spears and many others. The estate pays for private schools and tutors, a chef, private security and family vacations, giving the Jackson children the stability their father strived to provide.

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Michael Jackson: a provider 5 years after his death

Doctor: Jackson sought propofol long before death

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson requested the anaesthetic propofol to help him sleep at least a decade before he died from an overdose of the drug, a doctor testified Wednesday.

Dr Christine Quinn said Jackson summoned her to a Beverly Hills hotel in 1998 or 1999 and asked her to give him propofol.The request came after she met the entertainer while he was undergoing dental procedures. She said she refused the request and told Jackson it wasn’t appropriate to use anaesthesia as a sleep aid.“I told him that the sleep you get with anaesthesia is notreal sleep, not restful sleep,” Quinn said.Jackson responded by saying his time under anaesthesia was the best sleep he had ever had, she testified.Jackson died in 2009 from an overdose of propofol that was administered in the singer’s bedroom by Conrad Murray, who was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter.Quinn was testifying for the defence in a negligent hiring lawsuit filed by Jackson’s mother against AEG Live LLC, the promoters of the singer’s ill-fated comeback concerts. AEG denies it hired Murray.Quinn said she gave Jackson anaesthesia for procedures done after the meeting at the hotel. He never asked for propofol after the meeting or requested that he be kept under for longer than was medically necessary, she said.Jurors also heard Wednesday from Cherilyn Lee, a nurse practitioner who said Jackson said he needed propofol to help him sleep in April 2009, a little more than two months before his death. Lee said she warned Jackson that propofol was unsafe for home use and he might not wake up, but the singer insisted that doctors told him he would be fine as long as he was monitored.“His demeanour was, ‘I have to have this. I have to have this to sleep. You don’t understand, I have not had a good night’s sleep,”‘ Lee said.Lee did not give propofol to Jackson.AEG Live has called a number of Jackson’s former doctors to testify.One expert hired by the company, Dr Petros Levounis, told jurors on Tuesday that Jackson exhibited signs that he was doctor shopping and trying to find medical practitioners who would give him opioid medication.Attorneys for Jackson’s mother have acknowledged the singer struggled with prescription medications but said he generally received anaesthesia and medications during medical and dental procedures.They rejected the characterisation of Jackson as an addict.JACKSON… died from an overdose of propofol in 2009

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Doctor: Jackson sought propofol long before death

Jackson Shield showdown set for today

Sport

Paul ReidSaturday, August 31, 2013

MONTEGO BAY, St James — Cornwall College and Munro College will continue their build-up to the start of the 2013 ISSA/Lime daCosta Cup schoolboys’ football competition, when they meet in the 21st annual Jackson Shield pre-season festival set for Jarrett Park this afternoon, starting at 1:00 pm.Cornwall College, who will be coached by Dr Dean Weatherly, will be seeking their third straight hold and 17th overall in the two-game series that will also see the over-35 teams of both schools meeting in the 3:00 pm feature.The competition’s format sees the daCosta Cup teams meeting in the first game before the over-35 teams meet in the second game and the aggregate scores between both games are used to determine the winners.The Cornwall College daCosta cup team has won the last two games in the series, but reports are that Munro College under coach Andrew Edwards for the second straight season, could be one of the fancied team this season.Munro has, however, failed to score against Cornwall in the daCosta Cup game in the last three meetings, except for the 2010 game that was played in thick fog at Munro when the home team prevailed 5-1.The event is usually held just prior to the start of the daCosta competition and as such the daCosta Cup coaches usually play their best teams, at least for the start of the game, as the coaches seek to get a better idea of where they are in terms of readiness for the season.The 2013 ISSA daCosta Cup season, which was launched two days ago, is set to get underway on Saturday, September 7 with a double-header at the Montego Bay Sports Complex at Catherine Hall.

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Jackson Shield showdown set for today

Doctor: Jackson sought propofol long before death

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson requested the anaesthetic propofol to help him sleep at least a decade before he died from an overdose of the drug, a doctor testified Wednesday.

Dr Christine Quinn said Jackson summoned her to a Beverly Hills hotel in 1998 or 1999 and asked her to give him propofol.The request came after she met the entertainer while he was undergoing dental procedures. She said she refused the request and told Jackson it wasn’t appropriate to use anaesthesia as a sleep aid.“I told him that the sleep you get with anaesthesia is notreal sleep, not restful sleep,” Quinn said.Jackson responded by saying his time under anaesthesia was the best sleep he had ever had, she testified.Jackson died in 2009 from an overdose of propofol that was administered in the singer’s bedroom by Conrad Murray, who was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter.Quinn was testifying for the defence in a negligent hiring lawsuit filed by Jackson’s mother against AEG Live LLC, the promoters of the singer’s ill-fated comeback concerts. AEG denies it hired Murray.Quinn said she gave Jackson anaesthesia for procedures done after the meeting at the hotel. He never asked for propofol after the meeting or requested that he be kept under for longer than was medically necessary, she said.Jurors also heard Wednesday from Cherilyn Lee, a nurse practitioner who said Jackson said he needed propofol to help him sleep in April 2009, a little more than two months before his death. Lee said she warned Jackson that propofol was unsafe for home use and he might not wake up, but the singer insisted that doctors told him he would be fine as long as he was monitored.“His demeanour was, ‘I have to have this. I have to have this to sleep. You don’t understand, I have not had a good night’s sleep,”‘ Lee said.Lee did not give propofol to Jackson.AEG Live has called a number of Jackson’s former doctors to testify.One expert hired by the company, Dr Petros Levounis, told jurors on Tuesday that Jackson exhibited signs that he was doctor shopping and trying to find medical practitioners who would give him opioid medication.Attorneys for Jackson’s mother have acknowledged the singer struggled with prescription medications but said he generally received anaesthesia and medications during medical and dental procedures.They rejected the characterisation of Jackson as an addict.JACKSON… died from an overdose of propofol in 2009

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Doctor: Jackson sought propofol long before death

Paris Jackson: "A daddy"s girl"

LOS ANGELES, California (AFP) — Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris, who tried to commit suicide this month, was the hardest hit by her father’s 2009 death, a co-guardian of the star’s three children said yesterday.

TJ Jackson, a nephew of the late King of Pop, struggled to compose himself as he testified in court in Los Angeles, a day after the late singer’s 16-year-old son, Prince, took the stand.“I think the loss of my uncle has hit her at a different level,” he said of his cousin Paris, who remains in hospital after trying to cut one of her wrists and taking 20 ibuprofen pills.“It’s tough. She was daddy’s girl. My uncle was her world,” he added.The 34-year-old, also a singer/songwriter, was the second Jackson family member to testify after Prince Jackson took the stand Wednesday, recounting for the first time the harrowing day of his father’s death.Michael Jackson’s mother, Katherine, is suing tour promoter AEG Live, accusing them of negligently hiring Conrad Murray, the doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter for giving the singer the drug that killed him.Murray was found guilty in 2011 of administering the anaesthetic propofol to Jackson to help him with chronic insomnia, as he rehearsed in Los Angeles for the planned This Is It comeback tour.TJ Jackson, the son of the late King of Pop’s brother Tito, was made co-guardian last year of his three cousins Prince, Paris and Blanket, now 11 years old.Testifying in the AEG trial’s ninth week, he described 83-year-old family matriarch Katherine Jackson as “the queen” and “the CEO,” adding: “I help her do the daily stuff”.

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Paris Jackson: "A daddy"s girl"