Tim Clark has celebrated a significant career milestone with his 1500th winner and fittingly he has achieved the feat aboard the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Taormina.
Clark has a long record of success for Tulloch Lodge and is their go-to rider in Sydney, but says he only became mindful he was nearing the mark this week.
“It’s a nice accomplishment, something I am very proud of,” Clark said.
In typical Clark-Tulloch Lodge fashion, Taormina ($2.80 fav) dictated from the front and had enough in reserve to hold out Fukubana ($6) by a long head, the runner-up sticking on well after working early to sit outside the leader, with Inhibitions ($3.30) a luckless third after being pocketed for the length of the straight.
Taormina continued an incredible two-year-old season for her trainers, giving them their 36th juvenile win for the season, with Clark describing her as a straightforward filly with the right attributes to continue to progress.
“She did everything right again today. It’s what you expect riding a two-year-old for Gai and Adrian,” Clark said.
“She is a filly we’ve held in high regard all the way through. She has done a good job there stepping from midweek grade up to a Saturday race.”
Waterhouse and Bott will see how Taormina comes through Saturday’s Racing For Good On July 29 Handicap (1200m) before deciding whether she presses on to the spring with Bott confirming the Group 2 Silver Shadow Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on August 19 is the race they have earmarked.
“The intention was if she won today to look at that option,” Bott said.
“If we still think that’s the right thing to do, that’s probably the logical path for her, a filly carrying a bit of residual fitness into the early part of the spring.”
