Photo: Ajay Berry (Race Images)
A career-best campaign for Tumuch (Satono Aladdin) went up another level on Saturday when the five-year-old scored his first black-type win in the Listed Speight’s Timaru Stakes (1200m) at Riccarton.
The Satono Aladdin gelding has barely put a foot wrong in seven starts this season, starting with a win in Rating 75 grade at Riccarton in September. He then finished second and fourth in two appearances during the New Zealand Cup Carnival in November, followed by an outstanding last-to-first performance in a 1400m open handicap at Cromwell on December 1.
Tumuch had no luck when third in the Timaru Cup (1600m) on December 28 and sixth in a 1400m open handicap at Wingatui last weekend, but he dropped down to 1200m on a quick turnaround on Saturday and produced the performance of his career.
Ridden by Akshay Balloo, Tumuch settled near the tail of the talented Timaru Stakes field and still had a dozen horses in front of him with 250m remaining.
But Balloo turned him loose down the outside of the track and Tumuch produced an explosive turn of foot, bursting to the front in the final 50m and winning by three-quarters of a length.
“He was very impressive,” co-trainer Karen Parsons said. “He was about as impressive as that when he won at Cromwell last month too. He’s racing in really good form at the moment.
“We’ll probably aim him at Wingatui now.”
The Wingatui meeting on February 8 is headed by the Listed Hazlett Stakes (1400m).
From 16 starts, Tumuch has recorded five wins and four placings and has banked $171,080 in stakes.
Tumuch is out of the unraced Captain Rio mare Pamela Place, whose half-brother Camino Rocoso won 15 races including numerous triumphs in those same red and white colours of the Parsons stable. His career highlight came in a successful North Island raid on the Gr.3 Trentham Stakes (2100m) in 2020.
The Timaru Stakes was the first stakes success for Balloo, a Mauritian jockey who arrived in New Zealand in 2019 after spending time at the South African Jockey Academy as an apprentice. Balloo also won Saturday’s Berkley Stud at Karaka 2025 Rating 65 (1200m) aboard Avitus.
“It’s my first black-type win in New Zealand, so it’s a big thrill,” Balloo said. “It was a lovely ride to pick up for John and Karson Parsons. The horse is in good form and has quite a strong record at the track, so I was reasonably confident going into the race.
“We ended up further back than planned, so I was a bit worried for a while, but then the horse showed a very good change of gears in the straight and won impressively.”
