Racing

OLD FIRM DELIVER FOR REG

Steven Parnham is always worth listening to and observing.

There is an innate decency to the eldest of three jockey sons of Carolyn and Neville Parnham and it was on display yesterday after he had triumphed in the Group 3 Strickland Stakes (2000m).

There was a quiet sense of achievement by the jockey after he landed the Fred Kersley trained galloper, Ihtsahymn, by one length  from Dubai Escapade and Zarantz, after coming from last on the turn.

Parnham’s reflective nature was understandable because he had just ended an 819 day drought for the quality grey Group I winner of the 2013 Kingston Town Classic.

Not only that but Parnham, as he said, in his post race presentation speech, was also considering Ihtsahymn’s owner, Reg Webb, recovering in hospital from heart surgery.

Webb would have loved the way Parnham was content to bowl along at the rear before bringing his charge home down the outside with a stirring finish that brushed aside the opposition like a charging member of the Lighthorse at Beersheba.

It was shades of the grey’s three year old season when he scored in such quality events as the WA Guineas, Kingston Town Classic and CB Cox Stakes all in the space of a month.

Then after winning the Melvista Stakes (late March 2014) the grey’s form fell away and an equally unsuccessful Victorian campaign followed.

Form can be an ephemeral thing in all sports, including racehorses and jockeys, and Parnham never oversells the quality moments because he too remembers the lows, such as race falls, that batter not only the body but also rider confidence.

But it was clear speaking with Parnham and noting his typical thoughtful and modest reactions he was savouring the return to form of a million dollar plus grey earner and the fact he had won for an ailing owner with whom he has had a long association. The summer carnival beckons and rich plums may again be on the cards. Fred Kersley dares to think grand things again too.

Parnham’s association with owner and trainer is clearly shown in the statistics. He has ridden Ihtsahymn in all eight wins (from 32 starts) for $1, 110,150 in prize money and has a similar impressive record aboard Webb’s favourite grey, Ask Me Nicely (now retired).

Of the eight races that galloper won in WA , (he also won two in the East before coming here), Parnham scored on the first six of them. ( Shaun O’Donnell was aboard for Ask Me Nicely’s inaugural victory in the WA Cup (3200m) and later the Boulder Cup).

So in a day of great racing, and a record breaking achievements by champion rider William Pike, the return to form of the ‘old firm,’ including the quiet decency of Steven Parnham, was also a highlight to savour.