Matt Jenkins is quickly discovering he’s not too bad at this training caper.
The former Tatura lad claimed his first city winner at the weekend when Starz Barwon saluted in race six at Moonee Valley.
Jenkins, who trains in partnership with David Brideoake, was trackside as the four-year-old gelding flew home to prevail in the 1000m Benchmark 64 race at $3.20 on the tote.
The win continues Jenkins’ impressive start to life as a trainer.
The duo has now trained three winners since Jenkins was elevated a fortnight ago.
It all kicked off with Blazing Rebel at Kyneton, with Jenkins happy to get the “monkey off the back”.
“It’s been good, I won’t get ahead of myself by any means,” Jenkins said to racing.com post-race.
“We’ll keep pushing on, we’ve got a lot of nice horses coming through and everyone back home is working really hard.
“I’m rapt to get my first city win.”
It was a pearl of a ride from jockey Ben Melham.
Stuck midfield and on the rail, which was out 7m, Melham found a gap at the 200m and let the gelding do the rest of the work to the line ― which it passed first by a neck.
“A terrific ride, he’s been an ultra consistent horse and been around the mark without winning,” Jenkins said.
“Half a dozen starts ago we didn’t really know how genuine he was and I don’t think he couldn’t be any more genuine then.
“Really happy for him (Starz Barwon) to get a metropolitan win for some really good owners and get my first city win as well.”