Tom Prebble has one of Australia’s most successful jockeys this century as a father and a mother who is part of one of Australia’s most famous racing families and on Tuesday he joined them as a winning rider.
The 20-year-old rode his first winner when he partnered the Rob Blacker -trained Scientific to victory in a heat of Racing Victoria’s Rising Stars Series at Mornington.
Prebble’s father is Brett Prebble, who counts a Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Golden Slipper among Australian feature wins in a career that also included a lengthy stint as one of Hong Kong’s top jockeys.
His mother is Maree Payne, a former jockey who is part of the famous Payne family that includes Michelle, the only woman to have ridden the winner of the Melbourne Cup, and Cox Plate-winning hoop Patrick.
That lineage ensured he was one of the higher-profile members of his intake of Racing Victoria apprentices and Scientific’s win made him glad that he followed in his parents’ footsteps.
“It’s definitely a feeling of relief with everyone else putting a bit of pressure on me, but I’m happy it’s done now,” he said.
“Mum and dad made me do 100 other sports, they tried to keep me away from it, but I ended up back here (in racing), so I’m happy I did.”
The outing on Scientific was his seventh ride in a race and second for the day, having earlier finished last aboard $2.80 favourite Waterworld, who is trained by his master Peter Moody.
Prebble settled Scientific in the second half of the field in Tuesday’s 1200-metre event, but sliced his way through the pack rounding the turn before charging to the front 200m from home.
The race was over shortly after and at the line Prebble and Scientific ($5) had two lengths to spare over $4 favourite The Sisters.
“I felt coming around the corner she was just continuing to pick up and pick up and when I hit the straight I thought, ‘whoa, I’m going past everyone here’,” he said.
“She really let down well. It’s super.”
