As profitable as the Spring Carnival has been for Ethan Brown, one thing is missing, which he is keen to rectify this Saturday at Caulfield.
The in-form jockey will chase his first Group 1 win of the season aboard Jimmysstar in the $1 million CF Orr Stakes.
The Everest placegetter and last-start winner of the $3 million Russell Balding Stakes returns to Victoria for the first time this campaign and has been a key factor in Brown spending much of his spring in Sydney.
Champions Day, Cox Plate Day and Caulfield Guineas Day are the only Saturdays Brown has ridden in Victoria since the start of September thanks to opportunities presented by Jimmysstar’s trainer Ciaron Maher and owners Ozzie Kheir and John O’Neill.
“It’s been a good spring, the bigger wins were definitely in Sydney but you just go where the good horses are and the opportunity is,” Brown, a winner of nine Group 1 races, said.
“I’ve had a lot of good backing this spring through Ciaron Maher and Ozzie and Johnny and plenty of other owners and I’ve made the most of that.”
Jimmysstar’s last-start win is Brown’s biggest of the season, while he also won the Group 2 Run To The Rose on Tempted, on whom he also finished second in the Group 1 Golden Rose.
Big-race placings have frustratingly been the hallmark of Brown’s spring. He is the only rider to place in Australia’s three richest races of the year.
In addition to Jimmysstar’s third placing in the $20m The Everest, Brown finished third aboard Middle Earth in the $10m Melbourne Cup and was runner-up in the $10m Golden Eagle aboard Sepals.
Brown’s mounts have amassed $10,345,510 for the season, which has him behind only James Mcdonald ($20,259,580) and Mark Zahra ($10,551,280) on the list of the season’s highest-earning jockeys.
He jumped to the head of the Victorian Jockeys’ Premiership on Thursday after a riding four winners at Seymour, which took his season tally in that state to 40.
Jimmysstar has been responsible for a tick over $3.9m of Brown’s earnings and is now firmly entrenched among Australia’s elite sprinters.
His spring campaign comes after an autumn in which he won the Oakleigh Plate (1100m) and All Aged Stakes (1400m) at Group 1 level and Brown said the six-year-old had come of age this year.
“He’s cemented himself as a proper weight-for-age horse I think and that’s been evident in his form,” Brown said.
“He had to take that step, but he’s certainly done that.”
Brown reunited with Jimmysstar at track earlier in the week and served an ominous warning to his Orr Stakes rivals, which include Jimmysstar’s The Everest rival Angel Capital.
“I jumped on him Monday, he worked really well, he’s drawn a nice gate (three) and there’s no reason why he’s not going to show up again,” Brown said.
“He’s had a big prep but there’s still a horse there and still the best of him I believe. He’s flying.”
Jimmysstar headlines a big book of eight rides at Caulfield for Brown, who also partners Kaleo in the $400,000 Group 2 Sandown Guineas (1600m) and Rohesia in the $1 million Group 3 Thoroughbred Club Stakes (1200m).
