Amerman Racing LLC’s Tumbarumba fought tenaciously to the finish of Saturday’s $150,000 Fred W. Hooper (G3) to prevail by a nose at Gulfstream Park.

Tumbarumba ($18.80) closely monitored a contested early pace set by favored Hejazi and pressed by Expressman into the stretch before rallying in the stretch to record his first graded stakes victory, holding off a late bid by Castle Chaos. Steal Sunshine finished third.

Bob Baffert-trained Hejazi, who set or vied for the early pace past fractions of :23.53 and :45.69 for the first half mile, faded to fourth.

Tumbarumba ran a one-turn mile in 1:36.45 to give trainer Brian Lynch his 15 winners half-way through a highly successful Championship Meet at Gulfstream.

The late-developing 4-year-old gelded son of Oscar Performance won the Ellis Park Derby last August before finishing a close third in the Oklahoma Derby (G3) at Remington Park in September. He entered the Hooper off a second-place finish in the Louisiana Classic for state-breds at Fair Grounds Dec. 9.

“It’s been a great meet so far, and particularly winning with him,” Lynch said of Tumbarumba, who was bred by Coteau Grove Farms from the Street Sensemare Naive Enough. “He’s an Oscar Performance and he’s just a special horse to me.”

“I’ve always felt he’s better on the outside, so the outside draw was a good draw for him. He sort of got to stalk them, and he’s such a game horse when he can gets engaged in sort of a head bob. To run down [Bob] Baffert’s horse [Hejazi] as the chalk, that’s a thrill, too. All-around, just a neat, neat horse and I’m just so excited about him.”

 

Amerman Racing’s Tumbarumba  thundered down the center of the Ellis Park track to score his first stakes victory in the Aug. 13 $250,000 Ellis Park Derby.

Tumbarumba was ridden to victory by Rafael Bejarano for trainer Brian Lynch. Tumbarumba covered the one-mile distance in 1:36.02.

The field of eight 3-year-olds broke well in the Ellis Park Derby as longshot Olazabal  was hustled to the early lead under jockey Alex Achard. Tumbarumba broke from the rail but Bejarano moved the Louisiana-bred in the two-path and settled in fourth. Following a strong half-mile in :46.33, Olazabal began to tire as Transect  and Blue Light  dueled on the lead. At the quarter-pole, Bejarano tipped Tumbarumba to the four-path outside Transect and the closing Loyal Company  as he began to show his best stride. Inside the eighth pole, Tumbarumba was able to gain the lead over the battling rivals and pulled clear late for a three-quarters of a length victory.

Tumbarumba’s record now stands at a solid 4-1-1 from nine starts with purse earnings of $254,870. The son of the former Lynch-trained Oscar Performance   was bred in Louisiana by Coteau Grove Farms.