Half-brothers give Payne stable a double at Caulfield.
Saturday’s meeting at Caulfield couldn’t have panned out any better for the Patrick Payne stable and the connections that bred and race Jimmy The Bear.
The seven-year-old gelding, who has won nearly $1.4 million in prize money, proved too strong for rivals in the Rod Griffiths Handicap (1600m) at Benchmark 100 level, a race he also won last year.
Sent out a firming $8 chance under apprentice Holly Durnan, Jimmy The Bear swept down the outside in keeping with the pattern of the day to hold out Cartoon Graveyard ($7.50) by a short-half-head with 3-1/2 lengths back to Rumbled Again ($13) in third.
It capped a double for the stable with Jimmy’s half-brother and progressive three-year-old Clever Trevor winning impressively over 1400m earlier in the card, and stable representative Neil Greaves credit Payne’s training nuance to have the evergreen gelding win second up.
“They’re so well looked after and Patrick doesn’t rush things, he just takes his time,” Greaves said.
“He’s not frightened to give them a spell, and they just keep coming back year after year, and it’s a credit, full credit, to Patrick Payne and the staff at the farm.”
A similar Winter program for Jimmy The Bear beckons which saw the son of Jimmy Creed win the Winter Championship Final at Flemington.
Durnan, who claims 3kg in town, notched up her third Victorian metro winner and had drawn on the knowledge of Tom Prebble, who rode Jimmy The Bear to victory in the race last year.
“I spoke to Tom Prebble beforehand, obviously he had a great relationship with the horse and I do a lot of work out at Patrick’s as well so I’ve ridden him track work there but his first up run was great,” Durnan said.
“He only got beaten two lengths. It was always going to be warranted that he’d be better at this distance. Loves Caulfield. So I just thought he’d be really effective today.”
Jimmy The Bear could be joined by brother Clever Trevor at Flemington with the Silver Bowl Series a logical option – a series in which Jimmy The Bear won two races himself as a three-year-old.
