Even-money favourite Thumping came off an uninterrupted run on Sunday to make amends from her last-start failure when her winning chances were ironically snuffed out by her own stablemate.
Starting as the $10 top pick as well at her last run, the US-bred mare was put out of business when the other Hideyuki Takaoka-trained runner Brilliant Power hung in under pressure, squeezing Thumping out just when she was springing right into contention.
There was no such traffic problem this time around as jockey Alan Munro parked her in clear running from the word “go”, one-off the rails in a rearward spot in the $55,000 Open Benchmark 67 race (1600m).
When Flying Tempo (Manoel Nunes) took it up a notch from the 600m, Munro hooked his mount three wide for a sweeping run to greet the judge as clearly the horse to hunt down in the home straight.First to show the white flag was Flying Tempo, while One Rar (Hasri Rahiman) was digging deep in a bid to tack on with the sudden burst of acceleration, but Thumping was in a world of her own as she gave a bold sight to go and score by 1 ¼ lengths from the fast-finishing Rum N Raisins (Lisa Allpress), who bloused One Rar for second place by a nose.
Thumping clocked a smart time of 1min 34.49secs for the 1600m on the Short Course, only 0.86 second outside the record held by Super Ninetyseven.
Though Thumping, being four, qualifies for the Derby, Takaoka was not drawing any comparison or making her Better Life’s heir apparent, and neither was he making any hasty plans towards the same path for Suzuka’s new staying mare by Any Given Sunday.
“I’m not sure how many points the handicapper will give her after today’s win, but she needs to improve on her ratings (60) to qualify for the Derby,” said Takaoka.
“But if all goes well, I will set her for the 4YO series. Probably not the first Leg (Stewards’ Cup over 1400m) as it may be too short, but the Patron’s Bowl and the Derby could suit her.”
The Japanese handler is referring to the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge, which he famously made a clean sweep of in 2009 with another top mare, Jolie’s Shinju. The series kicks off with the Group 2 Stewards’ Cup on June 1 and concludes with the Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby (2000m) on July 13.
Takaoka said Thumping had stayed in her box longer than envisaged since her last run on January 5 because the races she was aimed at did not suit.
“There was a Class 3 race over 1600m, but it was cancelled. Then I was interested in a 1400m race three weeks ago, but I prefer to keep her to 1600m,” he said.
“After what happened to her after she was hammered by her own stablemate, it was good to see her win again.”
Munro said Thumping was still a bit reticent in her racing manners, but certainly had ability in abundance.
“She ran away from the whip in the home straight. She’s still very shy,” said Munro. “But once I asked her to go, she just quickened like a good thing.”
With that third win, Thumping has now brought her earnings past the $100,000 mark for her owners.
