He returned to the winner’s circle at Royal Randwick last week and the John P Thompson-prepared Jojo Was A Man ($4.60) has made it two victories there in the space of seven days taking out the Maroubra Mile.
The Al Maher gelding overhauled his rivals late to defeat Bullfinch ($6.50 betr) by a length with eye-catcher Almania ($26) flashing home late to finish third a further half length back.
“He’s just a horse on the rise, he’s been building through the preparation,” Thompson said.
“He’s a horse that’s still on the up. He’s just a progressive horse that will keep taking those steps.
“Last week was good and this week was probably better.”
It was a battle of the apprentices early in the straight with all four of them across the track, but jockey Reece Jones had the last laugh timing his run to perfection with a determined final furlong. Thompson was effusive about the ride from the 1.5kg claimer.
“He jumped well today but he didn’t panic, he just let the horse come back and relax,” Thompson said.
“They run a little bit quick up front and he just had a nice trail behind them, we were confident coming to the corner.
“He was travelling very well and he done it with a bit of authority.”
Jones has built a strong connection with the five-year-old bringing up win number five from just nine rides and agrees there is more in the locker.
“He did that a lot more effortlessly than he did last week,” Jones said.
“He had a lovely run in transit, did everything right today. It’s good to see him bounce back to the form which he showed at the end of the last preparation.
“No doubt he’s going to go on from here onto bigger races.”