Smart filly First Class Miss turned in a freakish debut run to give former South African jockey Sean Cormack his first Doomben winner in nine years on Wednesday.
Sent out favourite, First Class Miss ($2.50) jumped in the air at the start and gave the rest three lengths start before circling the field to sit outside the leader in the Hamilton Hotel Handicap.
She then went on to beat Grand De Lago ($3.20) by three quarters of a length.
Cormack was the stable rider for the late Queensland trainer Bruce McLachlan in 2009 before returning to South Africa and moving to Singapore.
He had two years out of the saddle while he addressed a “medical issue” but has been back riding in Queensland for the past six weeks.
“I think it is nine years since I rode a winner at Doomben. She is a pretty promising filly and raced well apart from the start,” he said.
Trainer Robert Heathcote paid $90,000 for the filly by sire Nicconi at last year’s Magic Millions March sales after seeing her when he walked on to the sales ground.
“Rob (Slade from Slade Bloodstock) asked me what I liked the best and I said the Nicconi filly. He said he liked it as well so we bought her,” Heathcote said.
“She is pretty promising and proved she hasn’t been knocked about too much by today we will look for something a bit better soon,” he said.
