Four-year-old gelding Here To Shock (NZ) (Shocking) has provided apprentice jockey Tatum Bull with her first Saturday city winner when comfortably scoring in the Catanach’s Jewellers Handicap (1400m) at Caulfield.
The Brent Stanley-trained son of Shocking had to wait until race morning to gain a start as the fourth emergency.
After settling just behind the pace, Bull took the shortest way home on Here To Shock, on what was inferior ground on the deteriorating Soft 7 surface and maintained a good gallop to the line to win by two and a half lengths.
Father of fellow three-kilo claiming jockey Jett Stanley, Brent Stanley was happy to put Tatum Bull on with his son committed to rides at Mildura on Saturday.
“It was good to be able to put Tatum on. They (apprentices) only get very good opportunities every now and then so to ride a horse with a live chance, she got the job done and I’m very proud of her,” he said.
“Obviously the fence is off, but it probably just goes to show he has got a bit of quality this horse.
“He got a touch of luck today and he definitely deserved it and a runaway winner – that was the way I wanted to see him do it.”
Bull was delighted to land a Saturday winner at Caulfield despite admitting not everything went according to script.
“I am very happy to get my first winner in town on a Saturday. Nothing went to plan but this horse is a serious horse,” she said.
“It is a privilege to ride him because it will be interesting to see where he ends up.
“The plan was just to let him flow, but he is a big keen bugger with a massive stride and you have to use that. I definitely didn’t want to go back to the inside but when I had a wall of horses in front of me and none of them were going anywhere, I had to go, I had to push the button on him and he proved too good for them today.”
Sporting the colours of syndicator Slade Bloodstock, Here To Shock has now won four of his 13 starts.
Rob Slade went to $70,000 to purchase the then colt out of the Lonhro mare Frescoes.
Bred by The Sunlight Trust, Here To Shock is a half-brother to smart three-year-old Turn The Ace, who is a stakes winner from the Andrew Forsman stable.
Slade went back to the well, purchasing a Vadamos half-sister to Here To Shock from Haunui Farm’s Karaka 2021 Book 1 Yearling Sale draft for $80,000, with the filly also joining Bendigo-based Brent Stanley.
