Less than a month off winning his first race at the highest level in the Oakleigh Plate (1100m) aboard Uncommon James, Ben Thompson snares both of the QTIS features run at Doomben.
His haul of five winnerson Saturday sees him now trail leader James Orman in the Brisbane Metro Jockeys’ Premiership.
Thompson was the example of the a jockey in form steering Mishani Royale to win the $500,000 QTIS Jewel (1200m) for two-year-olds and a following up within the hour winning aboard All That Pizzazz in the equivalent for three-year-olds also run for $500,000.
“That man, B Thompson, can’t do a thing wrong today and legging him up he was full of confidence when he got on the horse here,” Chris Cavanough – Tony Gollan’s stable representative – said after All That Pizzazz’s victory.
To the end of the Doomben meeting, Thompson is running at a season winning strike rate of just short of 17% with a place-rate of just under one-in-two.
Mishani Royale’s win in the two-year-old feature also rewarded trainer Les Ross and owner Mike Crooks whose support of QTIS events across Queensland stand out with the number of ‘Mishani’ runners that appear in the form guide.
“I can’t believe it. It’s a dream come true. We’ve been planning this for months and months,” Ross said of the team who also took second placing with Mishani Gangster.
Though as successful as he has been of late, Thompson was still critical of his own ride on All That Pizzazz who he described as ‘a ripper’.
“I could have rode him better not that I was being caught three-wide but I let him slide for too long to let him come across with En Pointe and let him sit one off the fence,” he said.
“I should have had a breather for an extra 50 or 100 metres and accepted being three-wide.”
Orman leads the premiership race with 65 winners with Thompson on 64 with four months remaining of the 2022/23 season.
