Jumal breezes to Sires' Stakes win at Addington

By Michael Guerin

The team behind Jumal are about to invest in his future by not investing in a plane ticket to Queensland.

But first the formalities.

The three-year-old made it 12 wins from 14 starts as he led throughout in the $200,000 Garrards’ Sires’ Stakes Final at Addington on Friday night, giving driver Blair Orange his fifth Group 1 in a month.

The only real drama was early while his rivals sorted themselves out and kept Jumal and Orange waiting before he waltzed to the lead, winning by three and a half lengths without having to be fully opened up.

He was what he is, the best horse of this crop, but it was easy to admire runner-up Forever Miki almost as much.

He was forced back early then looped the field to sit parked. He is  exciting for the Whites, giving them a real chip in the big game for the next few seasons.

But this was Jumal’s night with plenty more to come, but not in either the Rising Sun or Queensland Derby this winter.

“Obviously we have thought about it but I had a chat to Malcolm Wrigley, his majority owner, today and he isn’t that keen on going,” says Reid.

“We will have another chat tomorrow but I’d say he will go to the paddock and we will come back to take care of business at the end of the season.”

That could mean whatever the Three-Year-Old Race is at the NZ Cup carnival (depending on whether the slot race still exists) and then the New Zealand Derby.

“I might look at some four-year-old racing next season, like a Chariots Of Fire, but we really don’t need to think too much about that now. 

“If we look after him long term he will look after us.”

There was plenty of other wonderful winners on the night to complement Jumal, from the Team Dunn pair in the other two major pacing races to a training treble for Matty Williamson.

The North Otago horseman started the night with a brutal win behind Axel Rose who has open class trotter written all over him, while in the Syncroflex Express Two-Year-Old Trotting Stakes he unleashed a huge winning run on Master McGoogan.

The son of What The Hill blew past favourite and leader La Venture like a real pro, Matty having sometimes driven his dam Minnie McGoogan when she was trained by Jeremy Douglas.

Williamson capped his night with Seeking Clarity winning a lower grade pace for a rare Addington treble and a testament to the training ability of a trainer who doesn’t get the most expensive horses to play with.

He had to settle for third earlier though with Princess Sadie in the Heather Williams Trot as she and the rest of her rivals were outclassed by defending champion Eurostyle, whose win on Friday was a mirror image of her success last year.