Jomo will develop into a top sprinter
But trainer Lee Freedman will now give his three-from-three rising star a break before planning his next campaign
Three all-the-way straight wins in 35 days - that's the enviable record of Jomo, one of Kranji's biggest horses.
Trainer Lee Freedman was pleased his equine giant could jump and lead so easily from the James Peters-trained odds-on favourite Nova Vocal in Friday's $80,000 Class 3 Div 1 event over the Polytrack 1,100m.
Weighing 634kg, Jomo crossed in from the outer-most barrier to lead under jockey Craig Grylls. Jockey Olivier Placais brought Nova Vocal, who jumped from the inner-most stall, home with a good run but Jomo held on to win by half a length. His winning time was good, 1min 05sec.
Jomo will now be rested until next year.
"He's a real exciting horse. I mean, for a horse who is 630-odd kilos and could break from the machine and quicken, I mean, you know, James' horse is no sloth out of the gates and we just led him easy," said Freedman. "So I think we'll rest him now and come back for the new season. He has done a great job. I mean to go from a Maiden to Class 3 in three runs is pretty good.
"He's a four-year-old, so obviously the Three-Year-Old series is out. We'll just take him through his grades and see where he ends up. I get the impression he'g going to make a decent Class 1, Class 2 sprinter. Every time we raised the bar, he has done it and we're very happy."
Grylls, too, was full of praise for one of the biggest horses he has ridden.
"He's definitely one of the biggest horses I've ridden. I've ridden some who were a bit slow to begin but he moves up so fast off the spot," said the Kiwi rider, who is not renewing his Kranji licence for next year and will be returning to his nativeland to ride after taking a short Christmas break.
"You know, he jumped out of the gates super quick and I was able to cross over easy, so the rest is history from there."
Grylls was of the opinion that Jomo will improve with each race and get stronger physically and mentally.
"He did look a little lost in the straight, like every time I went for him, he wandered around a bit. But, you know, he's still learning his craft at the same time but he's got a ton of ability," he said.
"Yeah, he's still very raw but, you know, from his last start to today, his movements tell me he's improving and I'm sure he's going to improve fitness-wise and also mentally."
Jomo's hat-trick from as many starts has taken his prize money to about $80,000 for his owner, Upper Racing Stable.
With Jomo's victory, Freedman maintains a five-winner lead in his first season at Kranji with 64 winners over Shane Baertschiger, who also had a winner on Friday, Oliver.
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