Brent Thomson was a fresh-faced New Zealand-based 17-year-old apprentice when he made his first appearance on Australian soil at Moonee Valley.
It was Cox Plate Day, 1975, and the weather was atrocious, so much so the meeting was abandoned after the running of Moonee Valley Cup, but not before Thomson took out the Cox Plate aboard Fury’s Order.
That victory was the first of four Cox Plate winners Thomson produced in his first four rides, guiding home Family Of Man in 1977 followed by So Called and Dulcify in 1978 and 79 respectively.
Thomson last rode at Moonee Valley in the late 1990’s before retiring from race riding after a stint in Macau in 2000 and hadn’t been on a horse for 23 years until earlier this year.
‘The Babe’, as he is affectionately known, was back at Moonee Valley for ‘Breakfast With The Best’ on Tuesday morning putting two of Ciaron Maher’s horses through their paces.
He noted the track had not changed its shape in the 49 years since he first rode at the course, although the track condition was a far cry from what he encountered that Cox Plate Day.
“That first one was so wet, it wasn’t funny,” Thomson said.
“I call it a war of attrition that one and fortunately I came out on top, then I won on Family Of Man and after that I became stable jockey to Colin Hayes and won on So Called and Dulcify.”
Dulcify holds a special place in Thomson’s memory when he strolled to a seven-length win in the Cox Plate before tragically breaking down in the 1979 Melbourne Cup.
“At about the 1000-metre mark, he basically took control of me, and I was a passenger, and the rest of the race was quite amazing,” Thomson said of Dulcify’s Cox Plate success.
“They were all good winners, but he was special.”
After eight months of preparing for his ‘racetrack return’, Thomson went to bed on Monday night looking forward to Tuesday morning and admitted to being a little ‘toey’ waiting for his first ride.
“I’m grateful for Ciaron, because I’ve been riding for him a bit since February, and I think I jokingly said when I started off, ‘What about Breakfast With The Best?’, and here we are,” he said.
Thomson will return to Moonee Valley on Saturday for one of his favourite race days, one that is full of nostalgia.
“But I’ll be very happy to throw a suit on, frock up, and not have to wear these,” he said pointing to the Maher silks he wore in trackwork on Tuesday.
Champion jockey Brent Thomson had a spin around The Valley for the first time in over two decades 💪 pic.twitter.com/e9IV3KQ4Hd
— Racing.com (@Racing) October 21, 2024