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Jockey Ethan Brown credits time off last year to targeted winter wave of success as launching pad for the spring

Group 1 jockey Ethan Brown has credited a tough call last year to take away from the saddle for an early winter wave of success.

Gilbert GardinerGilbert Gardiner
@gilbertgardiner
2 min read
June 16, 2024 - 12:30PM
Ethan Brown won three of the first four races at Sandown last Saturday. Picture: Vince Caligiuri / Getty Images
Ethan Brown won three of the first four races at Sandown last Saturday. Picture: Vince Caligiuri / Getty Images

Group 1 jockey Ethan Brown has credited a tough call last year to take away from the saddle for an early winter wave of success.

Brown has ridden eight winners in June at a healthy 22 per cent strike rate, including six in the metropolitan arena, and moved to 50 for the season.

He banked a treble inside four races last Saturday at Sandown with Blue Renegade, Name Dropper and Miss Roumbini.

Amid a hot start, Brown caught the ire of stewards in Race 2 for failure to ride out his mount, the fourth-placed Krementz.

Krementz led the 1400m 3yo Open Handicap into the straight but was overhauled the last 200m.

Brown pleaded guilty and was fined $300.

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His treble last Saturday followed a double at Flemington seven days’ earlier, with Berkshire Breeze and Virtuous Circle.

Brown opened the winter account with a nice win on Why Worry at Caulfield.

All six of Brown’s recent city winners could take him into the spring.

“That extra time off (last year) has done me wonders,” Brown, a three-time Group 1-winner, said.

“I don’t think I’d really get to where I’ve got to, so soon, if I didn’t take that time.”

Brown sustained life-threatening injuries in a fall last year in March.

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He returned to the saddle in August but the comeback lasted a month.

The 25-year-old took a three-month sabbatical and returned to the saddle in January.

“It wasn’t a decision I took lightly, but I’m glad I made that decision … at the time I didn’t know what people were going to think, but I’m glad I could prove myself right,” Brown said.

Brown is determined to build on the winter surge, aided by the Brisbane Group 1 carnival which has attracted the bulk of Melbourne’s leading jockeys, with an eye on the spring.

“I have found a few nice horses lately, which makes things a bit easier, but happy with the way things are going,” Brown said.

“The momentum (during the winter) flowing into the spring really helps, last year I had winter off and tried to come back off an injury and it was really hard.”

Brown turned a consistent 2022 winter campaign, highlighted by a first Group 1 in Adelaide, into a breakout spring with a pair of elite wins in the Memsie Stakes and Turnbull Stakes.

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Brown’s partner, star apprentice jockey Celine Gaudray, has not missed a beat either in June with five city winners and consecutive Saturday doubles at Flemington and Sandown.

Gaudray, currently fourth in the Melbourne jockeys’ premiership with 41 winners, has sewn up the leading apprentice title after being runner-up last year.

Originally published as Jockey Ethan Brown credits time off last year to targeted winter wave of success as launching pad for the spring

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Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/horse-racing/vic-racing/jockey-ethan-brown-credits-time-off-last-year-to-targeted-winter-wave-of-success-as-launching-pad-for-the-spring/news-story/05e5fe1a8c791de636174ed3fe58b1ad