Malibu Style has given jockey Steven Parnham his first Melbourne winner
A stakes race win to Malibu Style at Caulfield has not only given jockey Steven Parnham his first Melbourne winner but also formed part of a unique feat for the prominent West Australian racing family.
Only minutes after Steven guided the horse trained by his father Neville to victory in Saturday’s Listed Bel Esprit Stakes, one of his younger brothers, Chris, also rode a stakes winner in Adelaide aboard the Lloyd Kennewell-trained Viddora in the Group Three RN Irwin Stakes.
And Steven and Chris’ winners came after their other jockey brother Brad rode the winner in the first race at Ascot in Perth.
“All three of us have ridden a winner today in all different states,” Steven said.
“I don’t know how rare that is.”
Perth-based Steven, 31, is the oldest of the brothers and had been knocking on the door of a Victorian win having been placed five times before in other flying visits, including a couple of times in Group One races on Playing God in the 2011-12 season.
A three-time Group One winning rider in his home state, Parnham had also come close to a Melbourne break through this season, beaten less than a head in two Group Two races on Ellicazoom while Malibu Style was second in his Victorian debut this month.
“I’ve had a handful of placings and they’ve been in feature races which has been exciting but to get the win has topped it,” Parnham said.
Both Steven and Neville Parnham are convinced Malibu Style, who had won six of his 27 starts in the west, has thrived in his three weeks in Melbourne and that was shown with his performance on Saturday.
Malibu Style who was $21 with Sportsbet sat just off the leaders Rocket Tommy and Faatinah before cruising up to them rounding the home turn.
He sprinted to the front inside the 300m and powered clear to beat Legless Veuve by 2-1/4 lengths with favourite Crystal Dreamer ($4) another nose away third.
“He has really, really thrived here and I don’t think I’ve seen him looking better,” Neville Parnham said.
“At home he tended to get a bit edgy before a race but he’s nice and settled here.
“This was the race I picked out which I thought might just suit him and we had a race a couple of weeks back over 1000 metres and he performed very creditably.”
