The Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott-trained Rumbling Night made a striking impression on racegoers at Newcastle on Wednesday evening, breaking his maiden status in barnstorming fashion at just his second race start.
Sent out a short-priced favourite on the back of a promising debut performance at Hawkesbury 15 days earlier, Rumbling Night dominated his second race start, leading from go to whoa and recording a 7½ length victory. Eased up over the concluding stages by jockey Tim Clark, he was authoritative.
Rumbling Night wins by 7 1/2 lengths at Newcastle.
Rumbling Night was purchased by OTI at the Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale in March 2023, having undertaken a faultless development to that point. Given our success with the Night of Thunder stock at that stage (including Italian G2 winner Auyantepui), he had great appeal. Mixed with the Street Cry bloodlines on his dam side, he quickly graduated from ‘must inspect’ to ‘must buy’.
The future is now bright. The immediate reaction of our trainers was one of great delight and plans are now afoot to take Rumbling Night into the autumn. As with any budding 3yo, the classics will undoubtedly be front of mind. Time may run out to have him rested and back for the AJC Derby, with the Queensland Derby a most logical back-up. Following Warmonger’s romp in that race earlier this year, the thought of going back-to-back with Rumbling Night is most exciting.
Horses don’t often win their maiden at midweek city level by 7½ lengths, and, while doing so, leave Cummings and Waller-trained horses in their wake. We look forward to the journey Rumbling Night may take us on.