Jockey Anthony Allen received the perfect farewell present when he steered two-year- old Mistral Thief to an upset win at Doomben on Saturday.
Mistral Thief ($41) made the most of the inside barrier to beat Wack’em ($17) by three quarters of a length with the same margin to Real Good ($4) in the HLB Mann Judd Handicap.
Allen leaves on Sunday night for a stint in the United Kingdom with trainer Ed Dunlop at Newmarket.
He got the chance as runner-up in the Brisbane apprentices’ title last season after the winner Tegan Harrison declined to take the prize.
“I am really looking forward to it. At this stage it is mainly riding trackwork but I hope I can get a few rides,” Allen said.
“It will be something totally different and a great chance.”
Winning trainer Stu Kendrick was far from shocked despite Mistral Thief having failed to run a place in four starts.
“To put it simply he is a big ratbag. He has always had plenty of ability but he gets stirred up,” Kendrick said.
“We had him in some good races earlier in his career and tried to get him into the Magic Millions but he was not ready.”
