Sunday, 25 November 2018: Lee Freedman’s promising galloper Jomo stretched his unbeaten run to a third win on the trot after bagging the $80,000 Class 3 Division 1 race over 1100m with the same authority on Friday night.

Jomo winning the CLASS 3

Oddly, the strapping four-year-old son of All Too Hard was not the first-elect this time around. It was the James Peters-trained Nova Vocal who was, and backed down to very short odds of $7, half of Jomo’s $14.



Two elements which presumably had punters shying away from Freedman’s giant (he tipped the scales at 634kgs on Friday) – the outermost alley (12) and the rise in class.


In the end, he overcame both rather easily, leaving no doubt that Freedman and the Hong Kong connections have a very serious horse in their hands.



One of the best away under Craig Grylls, Jomo  quickly found himself in his comfort zone at the head of affairs while Nova Vocal (Olivier Placais) was not in a bad spot either, in the box-seat and right on his hammer.



Upon straightening, the real acid test was about to unfold when Nova Vocal was angled out for his task to peg Jomo back.



If there were any signs of weariness in Jomo, they were more greenness and a tendency to drop his concentration when the chips are down.



As soon as Nova Vocal’s shadow loomed large on his offside, the competitor in Jomo was spurred on again. Half-a-length separated two very smart horses in the end.



Mighty Conqueror (Troy See) ran third another two lengths away. The winning time was 1min 5secs for the 1100m on the Polytrack.



“James’ horse is a very good horse, but we led him easy,” said Freedman.



“He’ll go on to Class 3. He’s a four-year-old and I guess I’ll take him through his grades, but I think he’ll make a decent Class 1 or Class 2 horse one day.



“Every time we’ve raised the bar, he’s answered. Despite his size, he’s proven himself to be a very good horse here, we can’t complain, we’re very happy with him.”



Grylls said he could not recall riding a stockier horse before, but even the bigger ones he’s ridden were not blessed with the same early toe.



“He would be one of the biggest horses I’ve ridden I think. He’ll be up there,” said the Kiwi jockey who is heading back to New Zealand after the last meeting on December 9.



“But none moves so fast, he’s off the spot right away. Tonight, once he was able to cross over, the rest is history, really.



“He was a bit lost in the straight, though. He was wandering around a little.



“He’s still very raw but he has improved from his last start and will keep improving fitness-wise, and both physically and mentally.”



Jomo has now won at all his three starts at Kranji for stakes money that have now hit around the $80,000 mark for the Upper Racing Stable.