JoJo Was A Man too good in the Winter Challenge

John Thompson’s persistence with a seemingly out-of-form Jojo Was A Man has delivered the ultimate reward with the gelding relishing a drier track to win the Listed Winter Challenge at Rosehill.

JoJo Was A Man hadn’t managed a place in five runs from a spell, including his past three on heavy ground, but adamant the horse was going better than his form suggested, Thompson stuck to his guns.

Waiting patiently for Sydney’s wet winter weather to abate, Thompson finally got his wish on Saturday and the horse relished a return to a soft 5 surface to score.

“He has been going well so it has been pretty frustrating,” Thompson said.

“It has been too wet. He gets through it alright but all his gallops going into his last runs were on really heavy grasses and Reece (Jones) galloped him on Tuesday on a somewhat drier grass and the difference was incredible.

“Even Reece said, ‘he will be hard to beat on Saturday’.

“You could see him today, he accelerated, that’s the difference.”

The Winter Challenge (1500m) victory capped an outstanding week for Thompson, who had a double at Randwick’s Kensington track meeting on Wednesday with his only two runners before snaring Saturday’s feature race.

However, he said the bulk of the season had been tough with his 32 city winners clearly bettered by his 45 second placegetters.

“You have runs,” he said.

“It has been a terrible year for me, a lot of seconds and placings but the last month or so it has started to kick in.

“Hopefully it keeps going.”

Jones has now ridden JoJo Was A Man to six of his eight wins and said he came into Saturday’s race quietly optimistic despite the horse’s long odds.

“I thought his last run he had started to return back to form,” Jones said.

“His work on Tuesday was really strong and he gave me a lot of confidence coming into today.”

JoJo Was A Man ($31) held out the late challenge of More Secrets ($21) to score by a long neck with Charterhouse ($11) another neck away in a driving finish.