A postage-stamp weight coupled with a smart ride from two-time Singapore champion apprentice jockey A’Isisuhairi Kasim paved the way to talented mare Thumping scoring a gallant win in the $125,000 Open race over 1600m on Sunday.
The US-bred five-year-old by Any Given Saturday was coming off the back of a narrow second to Alexandra Palace at her last outing ,and with only 49.5kg on her back, she was considered a good thing to come out tops in the small but select seven-horse field.
Sent out as the $12 favourite, Thumping was one of the first out of the machine to settle onto the rails before Trudeau (Michael Rodd) crossed her to take up the running.
As soon as Trudeau settled into the lead, Rodd immediately threw out the anchors, and was followed suit pretty much by the rest as they noticeably stacked up the speed.
To avoid getting boxed in, A’Isisuhairi angled Thumping across Trudeau’s heels to go and shade him while the bunched-up pack behind had all throttled down into the same cat-and-mouse mode with the first 800m run in a slow 52.25secs, setting the scene for a sprint home.
The last 300m indeed saw the two leaders lock horns with the backmarkers caught a little on the backfoot. Trudeau tried to sneak away but Thumping did not leave him by an iota while Flax (Barend Vorster) had made a sweeping run three wide from the 500m in a bid to put the speed in the race.
Trudeau put up a stiff resistance but the 8.5kg difference eventually told as Thumping edged past before drawing away to score by 1 ½ lengths from Flax, who kept chipping away to touch out Trudeau for second by a short head. Martin (Craig Newitt), who had all along dawdled at the back, charged home to dead-heat for third with Trudeau. The winning time was 1min 37.1secs for the mile on the Long Course.
Winning trainer Hideyuki Takaoka was aware his mare’s feather weight was a huge asset, but held some concerns about the anticipated lack of pace in the race.
“I was worried there would not be much speed in the race. She can be keen at times,” said the Japanese handler who scored an earlier race with Excellent Magic.
“But Harry was able to get her to relax. It was a good ride by Harry.
“She’s always been a good mare, but we all know she has flat feet which is why she must always wear special plates, almost like bar shoes. She got sore after her last run as the track was too firm, but she did recover.
“I’ll probably give her two more runs over 1800m or 2000m and if her ratings go up, then the QEII Cup could be a race for her.”
The Group 2 Queen Elizabeth Cup (2000m) is run on April 26 and was captured by Takaoka with Better Life in 2013.
A’Isisuhairi, who was riding Thumping for the first time (Alan Munro has been her regular partner at all of her previous 15 rides bar one), said he did due diligence by viewing some of her past races to size her up better when he was booked for the ride.
“They were travelling really slow, and as I know Trudeau well (won on him in Group 2 EW Barker Trophy in 2013) and my mare had only 49.5kg on her back, I decided I would sit close to him,” said the 2013 and 2014 champion apprentice.
“At the 600m, I gave her a slap to wake her up just to get her ready and she responded very well.
“She’s a very promising mare. I’ve watched her every run and she’s always showed plenty of guts.”
Thumping has now recorded six wins and three placings from 16 starts for stakes earnings just a tick under the $300,000 mark for the Suzuka Racing Stable, who also races Excellent Magic.
