Jimmy The Bear worth the shout for passionate owner-breeder Mike Hirst
Hirst shouted drinkers at the Pavilion, a Salamanca Place, Battery Point, watering hole last Saturday after boisterously cheering for triumphant Jimmy The Bear in the Listed Winter Championship Final at Flemington.
'People were looking at me stupid,' the former Racing Victoria chairman laughed.
'(Partner) Lizzie and I were screaming out, 'Go Jimmy, go Jimmy' to the point they were all looking at us silly.
'I decided I better shout the bar because I interrupted their afternoon a little too much, it's a small pub though.'
Jimmy The Bear, trained by Patrick and Michelle Payne, is the $1.65 favourite in the VOBIS Gold Heath (2000m) at Caulfield.
The six-year-old Jimmy Creed gelding, out of Hirst-owned Belvedere Road, has won three of his past five starts and placed second twice in a stellar winter campaign.
Jimmy The Bear, a $1.2m prizemoney winner, is a product of a 30-year dedication to a breeding theory – built around a direct descendant of 1955 Kentucky Oaks winner Lalun.
Hirst discovered a great-great-granddaughter of Lalun racing in Rockhampton, one of only two relations of the American mare in Australia at the time, and eventually bought her for $3000.
Hirst initially offered $20,000 to buy River Royal, the great-grandam of Jimmy The Bear, but the former owner insisted on racing the filly in north Queensland.
Hirst tried a second time – at $15,000 – after River Royal raced without success only to be knocked back again.
Hirst finally secured River Royal, placed once in seven starts, and chased the dream to breed a Derby or Oaks winner.
He almost achieved the feat in 2019 with Victoria Derby runner-up Southern Moon, son of Puissance De Lune out of South Street, a daughter of Jimmy The Bear's grandam On Southbank.
'River Royal's progeny and her progeny's progeny have now won north of $4m (prizemoney),' Hirst said.
'It doesn't mean it's been profitable, by the way, in fact, it's not been!'
• Childs to carry out trainer's long-term Monash plan
Descendants of River Royal include 2006 Adelaide Cup runner-up Tubular Bells and 2012 Grand Annual Steeplechase winner Awakening Dream.
Jimmy The Bear's sister Jenny The Beaver has won two of 15 starts and is an $8 chance in a 2450m Benchmark 64 at Geelong on Thursday.
Belvedere Road is in foal to Blue Point.
Jimmy The Bear has two young half-brothers, an unraced Omaha Beach two-year-old and Ghaiyyath weanling.
JIMMY THE BEAR ðŸ�»ðŸ'°
The Winter Championship Final goes to Patrick and Michelle Payne's warhorse! Forgot You was a mighty run for third at $61 for Team Busuttin/Young in honour of Peta Tait ðŸ'– @TheBeeegan @mj_payne pic.twitter.com/dmu3cIP7sX
— 7HorseRacing ðŸ�Ž (@7horseracing) July 5, 2025
'I was probably breeding a bit too much stamina and stayer, originally, so I've tried to put a bit more speed into (the family) as we've gone along,' Hirst said.
Jimmy The Bear could be freshened after Saturday but Hirst deferred to Payne for any future decisions.
'I don't pretend to tell Patrick what to do, he's a genius at placing his horses,' Hirst said.
'We did push him last year to run in the Toorak (Handicap) and after he went no good (eighth), and Patrick didn't think we should do it but we wanted to have a crack, after that I promised we'd never, ever have a say in where he went, so I don't.
'That will be up to Patrick, I'm not sure what he wants to do but he's got to a rating now, if he wins again on Saturday … and it's no certainty, I'd imagine Patrick will freshen him up a bit … if he wants to have a crack in spring so be it, and if he doesn't, that's fine too.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
27 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Godolphin's transition to public training begins with Amusing win for Chris Waller and James McDonald at Rosehill
Premiership winners Chris Waller and James McDonald helped launch Godolphin's new era with a bang as Amusing gave the champion trainer his first winner for the 'Blue Army' at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday. Godolphin has moved from a private to public training model for the new season with multiple trainers from Sydney and Melbourne taking over the powerhouse's racing stock from departing conditioner James Cummings. Waller was one of many prominent recipients with Amusing the first horse to line up at the races for a new stable across Australia. McDonald made sure it was easy viewing for all involved as Amusing comfortably dispatched rivals to salute in the Benchmark 72 Handicap (1500m). 'It's certainly a great honour to be training for Godolphin, they've been our biggest competitor for so many years and we've watched them every week to see what they are doing, how we are performing against them and they've been the best yardstick,' Waller said. 'There success has been amazing, starting with Woodlands with the Inghams and Sheik Mohammed buying that operation and developing their own operation. 'What their team has done has been amazing. It's great for Australian racing and to be one of the nine or 10 trainers to be chosen to train for them is an honour to be considered good enough to train for them.' 'The mutual respect over the years has been fantastic for their trainers, staff and management and they've really been the benchmark.' Waller watched the race with Hall of Famer Darren Beadman, who had spent his first full morning at the stable as a new member of Waller's staff. Amusing is one of nine horses now with Waller with the leading conditioner also set to put the polish on a string of two-year-olds later in the season. It's a @cwallerracing quinella in the Rosehill opener! 🙌 Amusing wins the first! ðŸ'� â€' SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) August 2, 2025 The classy daughter of Masar came to Waller in winning form after narrowly edging out her now stablemate Sister Daae over the same track and trip last month. 'We've taken over from a great operation and just seeing the horses coming into our system, a lot of the riders have just said 'wow',' Waller said. 'The young horses are so well educated and horses like Amusing have settled in really well. 'James has done a great job and their team and it really is an honour. 'I was nervous coming into the race just to make sure everything went well and things like that so it was a good relief.' McDonald was happy to stay closest to the inside on Amusing ($2.80 favourite) and had hit the front 300m from home before bounding clear to score by 2¼ lengths from Narbold ($5) and the Nathan Doyle -trained Aroha Stone ($12). McDonald has only just celebrating securing his seventh consecutive Sydney jockeys' premiership last season and ninth in total to move one away from George Moore's all-time record of 10 victories. He needed one race to move back to the top of the pile in Sydney racing. An Amusing finish! 🤩 Amusing wins in a thrilling photo finish in race 4 at Rosehill! @AlyshaCollett @godolphin @JamesCummings88 â€' SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) July 19, 2025 'It's great to get off to a winning start,' McDonald said. 'It always sucks going back to zero, especially after such a long season like it was but it's good to make the perfect start and here we go again. 'Onwards and upwards, I'm looking forward to this season, there's plenty to look forward to and it was good to kick off with a nice winner like that, especially being Godolphin's first runner with Chris. 'She's a filly with plenty to offer going forward I think. She's a lovely big scopy filly.' Waller's 142-win metropolitan haul last season secured a remarkable 15th Sydney trainers' premiership in succession with the Rosehill conditioner the odds-on favourite to continue that reign in 2025/26. 'We take our Saturday racing so seriously and it was last Saturday the end of season and then it was straight into it, what can we do better and where can we improve,' Waller said. 'We did a few little things different and went through the runners yesterday, different to how we did before and trying to make the race day a little bit easier so we knew exactly what we were doing yesterday and what was handling tracks. 'Just being a little bit better prepared.'
The Australian
an hour ago
- The Australian
Chris Waller three-year-old Crossbow thrives at Flemington to break maiden
Jockey Ben Melham believes Crossbow has a bright future after the Chris Waller three-year-old relished the Flemington track for his first win. Crossbow best get used to Flemington after thriving on the spacious track on Saturday. The three-year-old gelding, trained by Chris Waller, cruised to a soft victory in the 1410m 3YO Benchmark 70 under jockey Ben Melham. Favourite Exit settled last in the small five-horse field, loomed in the straight but raced ungenerously under pressure to ultimately run third behind Crossbow and Hillier. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Melham enjoyed the ride on Sydney visitor Crossbow, switched to Flemington after being runner-up the past two starts at Canterbury and Randwick. 'He looked like he'd been dying for a big track to stay out of trouble,' Melham said. 'Lovely horse, great nature, good action and good win. 'He's got a big action on him, so I was able to be comfortable on him, he did everything right. 'He's a gentleman and able to go through his gears nicely, rather than rushing the last minute like he had to do last start. He's a lovely horse moving forward.' â€' 7HorseRacing 🎠(@7horseracing) August 2, 2025 Melham said Crossbow would get further – 1600m 'definitely' and 'maybe' further. 'He feels progressive to me and he's got a lovely nature,' Melham said. 'He was no dramas there, solid through the line at (1400m), he'll definitely get a mile and maybe further, I'll leave that to the expert (Waller).' Crossbow travelled behind runner-up Hillier in the run and cruised past the last 250m. Exit tracked Crossbow around the bend but could not quicken as sharply under jockey Blake Shinn. 'Blake was drawn in a position he needed to make a decision and his hand was sort of dealt to him,' Melham said. 'If he was third the fence he would've had the whole race against him and it didn't worry me if my bloke was there because my bloke's two runs this time in have been full of merit.' ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Horse Racing Lady Talea's strong second-place finish last start has trainer Jason Coyle optimistic about her chances when she returns to Newcastle chasing her maiden win. Horse Racing Form analyst Adam Sherry provides his best bets and race-by-race analysis for Newcastle on Saturday.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Chris Waller three-year-old Crossbow thrives at Flemington to break maiden
Crossbow best get used to Flemington after thriving on the spacious track on Saturday. The three-year-old gelding, trained by Chris Waller, cruised to a soft victory in the 1410m 3YO Benchmark 70 under jockey Ben Melham. Favourite Exit settled last in the small five-horse field, loomed in the straight but raced ungenerously under pressure to ultimately run third behind Crossbow and Hillier. Melham enjoyed the ride on Sydney visitor Crossbow, switched to Flemington after being runner-up the past two starts at Canterbury and Randwick. 'He looked like he'd been dying for a big track to stay out of trouble,' Melham said. 'Lovely horse, great nature, good action and good win. 'He's got a big action on him, so I was able to be comfortable on him, he did everything right. 'He's a gentleman and able to go through his gears nicely, rather than rushing the last minute like he had to do last start. He's a lovely horse moving forward.' CROSSBOW ðŸ�¹ Ben Melham and Chris Waller combine to take the first of the season at Flemington as Crossbow breaks his maiden in style! @BMelham @cwallerracing @StarTbreds â€' 7HorseRacing ðŸ�Ž (@7horseracing) August 2, 2025 Melham said Crossbow would get further – 1600m 'definitely' and 'maybe' further. 'He feels progressive to me and he's got a lovely nature,' Melham said. 'He was no dramas there, solid through the line at (1400m), he'll definitely get a mile and maybe further, I'll leave that to the expert (Waller).' Crossbow travelled behind runner-up Hillier in the run and cruised past the last 250m. Exit tracked Crossbow around the bend but could not quicken as sharply under jockey Blake Shinn. 'Blake was drawn in a position he needed to make a decision and his hand was sort of dealt to him,' Melham said. 'If he was third the fence he would've had the whole race against him and it didn't worry me if my bloke was there because my bloke's two runs this time in have been full of merit.' â– â– â– â– â–
