You would think Ben Thompson will have a soft spot for Toowoomba.
Thompson seldom ventures up the range but in the last twelve months he has snared both the inaugural running of The King Of The Mountain on the Tony and Maddysen Sears trained Yellow Brick as well as The Weetwood, Toowoomba’s signature race aboard the Tony Gollan trained All That Pizzazz.
On January 1, Thompson will be back at Toowoomba to defend his King Of The Mountain crown, but this time he will be piloting the Robert Heathcote trained race favourite Rothfire, who will be one of the runners trying to prevent the Sears Training Partnership from making it two King Of The Mountain successes in a row themselves (they have Steady Ready and Avone in the lineup) … whole also trying to peg back All That Pizzazz’s quest to complete the first and famous Weetwood / King Of The Mountain double.
Interestingly enough, Thompson has been All That Pizzazz’s regular jockey for almost all of 2023, riding the well-performed Spirit Of Boom gelding in six of his seven starts this year, guiding him to four wins and two runner-up finishes during that time.
Thompson’s move to Rothfire has left the door open for Jimmy Orman to take the ride on All That Pizzazz … and that, in turn, brings a possible interesting rematch into play between these two top jockeys … and, if they can repeat the thrill of that rousing stride for stride battle when their mounts fought out in the Weetwood, the crowd will be in for a cracker of a finish.
In the Weetwood, Orman was on the short-priced favourite Yellow Brick, who stated at the very restrictive odds of $1.45. Thompson was aboard All That Pizzazz and these two runners went to the line in an absolute nail-biter. Some thought Yellow Brick had held on, but that only increased the disappointment of Orman and Yellow Brick’s connections when the photo went the other way.
This time Thompson is on the short-priced favourite Rothfire, who currently is priced at the very restrictive odds of $1.95, and Orman is on the second favourite, the $3.50 chance All That Pizzazz.
The betting boards, with no other runner priced under $11, make this a two-horse race … and, if you like … in part a least … a clash between top guns Orman and Thompson.
If it does get close between these two in the closing stages, it could turn into a real sizzler!
