The aptly-named Tantheman brought up a century of wins in Singapore for trainer Jerome Tan in the $30,000 Twickenham 2016 and 2017 Stakes (1200m) on Saturday.
The Singaporean trainer, whose highest acclaim came in the Group 1 Perak Derby with Mr Ambassador in 2012, moved from Penang, Malaysia to train at Kranji in 2019. He clocked in an average of 19 wins a year in the past five seasons, which meant he was four wins away from his 100th milestone win this year.
Tantheman finally broke the duck at his 23rd start in the Class 5 Division 2 race and while the win thrusted his low-profile trainer and owner into the limelight, Tan thought the son of Smart Missile had “some chances” going into the race.
“What a coincidence to have him as my 100th winner. He was the one I named ‘Thunder Man’ but they made a mistake and he became ‘Tantheman’ instead,” said Tan, who had two other runners Sacred Icon (9th) and Sacred Suite (8th) in the same race.
“They said I’ve got 99 wins already last week but I didn’t get it (100th win) then. It’s good to at least hit the century mark before the (Singapore Turf) Club closes.
“You’re only as good as your last win. Thanks to the hard work from my staff and the owners’ support. We wouldn’t have reached this milestone without their help.
“From the awkward draw (nine), he (Tantheman) still had some chances.
“(Jockey) Marc (Lerner) rode him forward at his last start and he didn’t like that, so I told (jockey) Ryan (Curatolo) to put him as far back as possible to let him finish off this time.”
Upon jumping, the $35 shot was put to sleep near the tail by Curatolo as The Wild Prince (Koh Teck Huat) took up the bunny role upfront.
Turning for home, $15 favourite Gamely (Manoel Nunes) swung out and made up ground before taking over the lead at the 200m. Tantheman, on the other hand, only found daylight on the outside at that point.
Gamely could not draw clear and a trio of runners behind him including Bluejay (Bruno Queiroz), Centurion (Krisna Thangamani) and Tantheman were making a beeline for the post.
Tantheman got the upper hand from Centurion by a head on the line and Bluejay finished another neck away in third. Gamely held on to run fourth another length away.
The winning time was 1 min 10.79secs for the 1200m on the Long Course.
Curatolo said the change to a “sit-and-wait” approach this time paid off.
“He (Tan) told me to try to run home strongly at the end,” said the French jockey, who pulled off a three-timer after Makin ($10) and City Gold Star ($27) also saluted in the $70,000 Flying Fulton 2011 Stakes, a Class 3 race (1600m) and the $70,000 Super Gold 2009 Stakes, a Class 3 race (1200m) respectively.
“If we ride him too forward, he may have the tendency to do too much in the early parts of the race.
“So I tried to ride him quiet and let him finish off on the Long Course. It worked out perfectly.”
With that maiden win, Tantheman has earned more than $65,000 in prizemoney for Tan.
