Behemoth’s huge spring set to come

AN emotional Brett Prebble marked his Melbourne riding ng renaissance in trade- mark style, executing a tactically perfect ride to help Behemoth clinch back-to-back k Group 1 Memsie Stakes. es.

Not bad for the jockey ckey who woke up Friday without a ride in the first Group oup 1 of the Victorian season.

But the extraordinary shock unavailability of Jamie Kah, originally booked to ride Behemoth, would double as a well-earned and deserved sliding door moment for Prebble.

The 43-year-old has spent the best part of 18 months, after more than a decade of brilliance in Hong Kong, riding at Victorian provincial tracks in pursuit of one intangible – a sense of belonging.

“I got the opportunity (to ride Behemoth – pictured) but you got to go out there and put your hand up,” a teary-eyed Prebble said.

“It’s a funny game back in Melbourne, same as Hong Kong, you go there with all the credentials you may have and you start afresh, that’s how I’ve felt here.

“The boys that have been here the last 10-15 years, while I’ve been away, they’ve been working hard and doing the hard yards and being successful … no reason to drop them and put Brett Prebble on.

“I thought go back to grassroots, I worked hard and that’s how I’ve become successful.”

The win on David Jolly-trained Behemoth not only iced Prebble’s comeback but sets up a spring for the instinctive master horseman who will ride fancied Incentivise in the Cups.