Every success Ben Brisbourne achieves with Fontein Jewel is cherished, but the two-year-old’s recent victory in the opening race at Flemington on Saturday held particular importance.
The Lucky Vega colt’s win in the $150,000 TAB We’re On Handicap (1420m) represented the young English trainer’s first at the track since securing on-course stables at Australia’s most famous racecourse in early May.
Brisbourne continues to operate his Wangaratta stable, the base from which Fontein Jewel was officially trained before Saturday’s race, but he described the win as a team effort.
“It the third Flemington winner for us, but the first one at Flemington since we’ve been had a base down here,” Brisbourne commented. “So that’s a big tick and hopefully it gets us noticed a little bit more, especially with these young younger horses. “It just proves that what we’ve put in place so far is working and we look forward to plenty more successful, hopefully.”
Fontein Jewel, sent out at $7, produced a gritty performance to score by three-quarters of a length from Insolence ($6.50). Insolence finished ahead of the fast-closing Spirit Of Macedon ($5) for second place.
This was the second win from five starts for Fontein Jewel, who came into the Flemington race following a second-place finish in the Elvstroem Classic (1300m).
Fontein Jewel’s win came just over five years after his dam, Fontein Diamond, won the $250,000 Country Mile Final at Moonee Valley on All-Star Mile Day. Brisbourne expressed his happiness at winning stakes races with the son of his first major winning mare.
“It’s really nice, because he’s the first foal out of Fontein Diamond, who was my first big winner as a trainer,” Brisbourne said. “She would have put some toughness into him and then the stallion’s just put a little bit of a class. “It’s absolutely brilliant for Chris (Morey) and Terry (Hurford), who bred him and support me every year with taking shares and horses, to get a big reward here.”
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