Sydney jockey Corey Brown kicked off his French tour when he rode at the Hippodrome de Dieppe race meeting yesterday.
Jockey Corey Brown winning the 2012 Toorak Handicap on Solzhenitsyn at Caulfield. Photo by Race Horse Photos Australia.
Brown partnered three year old filly Delantrea for French trainer David Smaga but failed to be a runner home in the six horse field for three year olds over 1400m at the historic racetrack.
The 2009 Melbourne Cup-winning jockey decided to take a break from Sydney racing and had planned to test the waters in France after a two month riding stint in Singapore.
Brown plans to return to Australia for the all-important Spring Carnivals in Sydney and Melbourne and is hoping the overseas experience will add to his already gifted riding style as well as putting some extra hunger back into the belly.
“It is a slow time of year in Australia, after the Brisbane carnival,” Brown said.
“You never stop learning and I have wanted to go over there for a while. It would be the right time to go and would be another new challenge in my career.”
“I think it would freshen me up and I’m sure it would help my riding. The style of racing over there and the horsemanship of their jockeys are up there with the best in the world.”
Brown is hoping to get a leg into the French racing scene through owner Paul Fudge who races his horses under the Waratah Farm banner and who has had runners in France.
“I have ridden for Paul Fudge, who is helping me make some contacts, as he races horses in France,” Brown said.
Brown has already has a taste of the French riding style when he competed in a jockey’s challenge in 2010 at Deauville and felt the urge to return after staying with top French jockey Eric St Martin.
“I had a good time and our families got on real well that week and I always wanted to go back,” Brown said.
“I considered doing it last year but I got a long suspension at the end of the autumn carnival and it made it hard to do financially.”
Brown who rode Shocking to win the 2009 Melbourne Cup for Mark Kavanagh broke an eighteen month Group 1 drought when he rode Solzhenitsyn to win the 2012 $400,000 David Jones Toorak Handicap (1600m) at Caulfield for Queensland trainer Robert Heathcote.
Before Brown left Sydney for his overseas venture he had ridden forty-three metropolitan winners and was comfortably placed in the top ten jockeys list.
