Melbourne Cup success for local owner
Royal Ascot: Silvestre De Sousa, the jockey of Jakkalberry at Royal Ascot where he ran fifth in the Hardwicke Stakes, pictured with part-owner Mick Johnston.
JAKKALBERRY’s third in this year’s Melbourne Cup was a huge thrill for former Leongatha resident Mick Johnston.
Mick, who lives and has his own business in Melbourne, has a 10 per cent share in the horse which was one of the many internationals flown in to try and wrest the Cup out of Australia.
“He is a proven international horse and has won a group one race in Italy. This was the horse’s first trip to Australia. I reckon he’ll be back again next year and try to go two places better and win the race,” Mick told The Star.
Mick and his wife Alise were at the Melbourne Cup to watch the race. Mick was in the mounting yard for pre-race instructions with trainer Marco Botti from Italy and jockey Colm O’Donohue who was flown out from Ireland to ride the horse.
“A lot of people didn’t think much of Jakkalberry, saying he was just making up the numbers. But the trainer reckoned he was a lot better than his 80-1 odds; saying he was in the best five runners, and this proved to be the case.”
Mick was also in the Melbourne Cup parade in the city in the lead-up to the big race in the Jackalberry car with the trainer and his wife.
The trainer is so happy with the horse’s form at the moment that he has been entered in the Japan Cup in two week’s time.
Mick and Alise have made the decision to book flights and head to Japan to watch the race.
“The Japan Cup is huge and carries similar prize money to the Melbourne Cup, with about $3.5 million going to the winner. Better Loose Up was the last Australian horse to win the Japan Cup,” Mick said.
Mick credits a lot of his interest in racehorses to his father-in-law, SEJ Ruralco real estate agent, Barry Redmond.
“I have an interest in another horse with Barry, while Terry Ginnane is another who shares a piece of another horse.”
Mick obtains his ownership of his racehorses through Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock Pty Ltd.
Apart from running his business All Weather Blinds and helping Alise with their three kids, Jessica 13, Noah, 10 and Claudia, 8, Mick retains an interest in football.
He is on the committee for Tooronga Malvern Football Club, now East Malvern, the club that attracted many Leongatha players years ago and still retains connections today.
“We won the premiership in division two, we’ll be going back to division one again in 2013,” Mick said.
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Posted by Jacob De Kunder on Nov 13 2012. Filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
