Jimmy The Bear delivered a fitting result in the Listed Winter Championship Series Final (1600m) at Flemington, avenging a past defeat and reaffirming his consistency with a hard-fought win.

Sent out at $5.00, the Patrick and Michelle Payne-trained galloper wore down his rivals from a wide draw to beat Munhamek ($41) by a head, with Forgot You ($61) only a nose further back in third. It was redemption after being beaten as favourite in this same race two years ago.

Carrying 59kg and ridden by Billy Egan, Jimmy The Bear settled wide in transit but produced a powerful run to claim the prize as the favourite Oh Too Good weakened late to finish down the track.

“He’s just an old marvel,” said Michelle Payne. “The whole crew is so excited as you can imagine, and as they should be because he’s just an old marvel.”

“His win last start put the writing on the wall. He was great under Tom Prebble and brilliant again today.”

“Billy did the best he could from the barrier, quite a bit wide, but just had a nice resting run from where he was and balanced him up. It was looking a good chance all the way up the straight, but he had to fight for it and just as Jimmy does, he doesn’t know how to run a bad race.”

With Prebble suspended, Egan got the call-up and made it count.

“Tom Prebble is here on course, shows he’s in the game for all the right reasons and he’s a good jockey, he’s one of his favourite horses, so it’s great to see him here,” Egan said.

“It was a bit like riding a group winner then actually, because just how much everyone in the stable loves this horse.”

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