Jockey Ethan Brown was a little taken aback at the high praise Mick Price paid him after riding a winner at Caulfield last week.
Price said Brown was the most underrated Group 1 jockey in Victoria after he piloted Public Attention to a debut victory.
“I justified putting him on to the Coolmore group by saying ‘this kid is a Group 1 jockey’,” Price said following Public Attention’s win.
“He is and that’s how he rides. He’s a good judge.”
Brown said he was surprised when he heard that from a trainer of Price’s calibre.
“He’s a man that speaks his word and for him to say that it opened my eyes and it’s good to get that recognition and feedback,” Brown said.
“But it doesn’t change anything. I’ve still got to work hard.”
Brown has done the hard work to get back among the top echelon of riders in Victoria after a serious fall 18 months ago in the Australian Guineas at Flemington.
He suffered a lacerated liver and kidney issues and after making a brief comeback took some more time off last year to get his body right.
Brown bounced out of the blocks with four winners on the opening day of the new season at Cranbourne on Thursday and is looking forward to reuniting with Berkshire Breeze in the Inside Run Trophy (2530m) at Flemington on Saturday.
The jockey and horse have combined on three occasions and are looking to extend their unbeaten run to four on Saturday.
“I think he got a lot of confidence winning at Cranbourne and he’s continued to improve the fitter he’s got and I’m happy that I’ve landed on him,” Brown said.
“Hopefully on Saturday he can do it again and then he can go to the qualifier (The Archer, at Flemington next month), but I wouldn’t want to swap him for anything else at this stage.
“He’s got a very good attitude. He can switch off in a race and he’s quite electric for a stayer and as soon as you ask him, he travels up really well.
“He’s got a lovely action, and you can’t ask much more of a stayer.”
Berkshire Breeze meets fellow import Post Impressionist on Saturday and from Saturday through the spring the races will only get tougher.
But the Ciaron Maher-trained galloper has been winning comfortably and Brown believes he will make it to bigger and better races.
“He’s been winning by big margins and there’s no reason why he can’t measure up to the better races, but I just want to see him get there,” Brown said.
While Brown hopes to be able to stick with Berkshire Breeze through the spring, he wants to focus on his rides in the metropolitan area and find another good spring horse.
“It’s easier to find them than to stay on them so that will be a goal of mine,” Brown said.
“I feel I’ve come into my own in the last few months and I’ve been given some good opportunities and made the most of it, so hopefully I can carry that on through into the spring.”