By AINSLEY WALTERS, Staff Reporter

BATTLE LINES WERE drawn last year and horseracing fans could be in for a real treat this season when champion rider Trevor Simpson and arch-rival Shane Ellis lock horns in what is expected to be an exciting duel for the 2004 jockeys' championship at Caymanas Park.

Defending champion Simpson rounded off 2003 way atop the standings with 112 winners, almost twice third-place Ellis' count of 59. However, Ellis' fans swore last year that had the 2000 champion rider been around for the entire season instead of being away in Canada for almost six months, it would have been a different affair.

The rivalry got to a head in November when PITTACUS, ridden by Ellis, stole a march in the Red Stripe Superstakes and lasted home from the favourite ROYAL RUN with Simpson astride.

Since then, fans have been bracing for a hot 2004 battle and word from the riders is that their respective loyalists won't be disappointed.

"He's no threat to me," Simpson told STAR Sports yesterday after getting the jump on his rival, booting home CHICO at good odds of 5-1 in the 1100-metre seventh race.

"Everybody wants to beat me so I'm always a threat to everybody," he pointed out. "Being in good health, I'm the one they have to beat."

Intense rivalry

Ellis, who failed to ride a winner on yesterday's nine-race card, said he'll be in Jamaica for the entire 2004 and is backing himself to dethrone Simpson, who rewrote the history books in 2002 by posting 171 winners in a single season.

"If I was here last year it would have been different," he said. "It was easy for him because I wasn't around for a couple months. This year it won't be easy for him."

The rivalry is even more intense as according to Ellis they only communicate on a 'high and hello' basis.

"We're not really talking right now," he explained. "It was a matter of some waste argument."

Simpson has dismissed Ellis and his fans' reasoning that he had 2003 for himself.

"That's people's talk," he said. "I'm going to be here taking my time as usual, doing what I have to do."

Both riders represent high-powered stables. Ellis is first-call at Anthony Nunes' barn, which boasts runners such as PITTACUS, smart American-bred ZICKWARTY and other in-form runners.

Simpson and champion trainer Wayne DaCosta have been inseparable since both combined to post a record-breaking 2002 when DaCosta became the first trainer to saddle 100 winners in a local season.

In addition, four-time champion Simpson rides regularly for top claiming trainer Richie Todd, who finished the year second on wins behind DaCosta last season, saddling 78 winners to the champion's 97.

"I'm riding for some good camps too," Ellis pointed out. "There's Nunes, Mattis (Kenneth) plus other smaller trainers, who support me. I'll be right there. Good luck to him."

For both riders to excel, it will be a busy year for their respective agents, the men who comb the paddock to secure choice rides. Wayne 'Hucks' Grossett manages Simp-son's book and Ellis has reunited with Donovan Wilson. Both agents are pros. Wilson handled the likes of Trinidadian Brian Harding, Ramon Parish, Hubert Bartley and Clive Lynch whereas Grossett first made his mark with Wesley Henry.