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Quondo goes back-to-back at Tauranga
Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk • June 27th, 2026 5:41 pm
Quondo winning at Tauranga on Saturday. Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)
Quondo once again showed his affinity for rain-affected going when recording his second consecutive win in the Aongatete Avo-ject 1200 at Tauranga on Saturday.
However, it wasn’t an easy watch for favourite punters, who backed the three-year-old son of Wootton Bassett into a $1.50 favourite off the back of his fresh-up two length victory over the same distance at Matamata a fortnight prior.
Slow away, jockey Geroge Rooke urged his charge forward to make up his early deficit and settle in the one-one behind Moneypenny in the six-horse field.
Rooke produced his charge three-wide when turning for home, taking aim at pacemaker Reptak and eventually found the top out wide with 100m to go. However, the nerves of his backers weren’t allayed, with the Danny Walker and Arron Tata-trained Takeshi sprouting wings and flying home late, but he left his run too late and Quondo clung on to score by half a length, much to the relief of his supporters.
While relieved to get the win, Rooke put several of Quondo’s misdemeanours during the running down to maturity, and he expects the Andrew Forsman-trained gelding to continue to improve with more raceday experience.
“He just wasn’t as focussed as he was last time fresh-up,” Rooke said. “He was very blasé about everything today, but he gets through the (wet) ground better than most.
“He travelled into it beautifully and put the race to bed nicely. When he strengthens up he will be a lovely horse, he has got a lot to come.”
Forsman’s racing manager Joe Walker was scratching his head following Quondo’s poor start, but he was pleased to see him get home to record his third career victory and said there is still plenty of improvement to come.
“When he flopped out and gave them a bit of a start I thought ‘that certainly wasn’t the plan’,” Walker said.
“They were hard up against the fence in the first race, which they often are, so we hoped that off the back of that there would be a bit of speed and he would be able to settle.
“He probably produced his best performance the other day at Matamata when he did get in amongst them and he was able to get a bit of cover, track into the race and finish off.
“He is learning all the time and getting better all the time. He has beaten older horses today and that is no mean feat, and he will get better with racing. He does enjoy getting his toe into the ground clearly.”
Bred by Sunlight Services N Z Ltd, Quondo is out of Group Two performer Lazumba and is a half-brother to Group Two performer Latino Blend. He has now won three of his seven starts to date and was runner-up in last year’s Gr.2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m), and has earned more than $65,000 in prizemoney.
