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📻 IMPORTANT AUCKLAND UPDATE 📻
“Don’t die wondering”: Brown reflects on Jimmysstar’s Everest ride
Connor Scanlon • January 7th, 2026 11:33 am
Ethan Brown, the now usual jockey on star sprinter Jimmysstar, has opened up on his ride aboard the Ciaron Maher-trained chestnut in the 2025 Everest (1200m).
Brown and Jimmysstar were able to finish in third place, behind the world’s best sprinter Ka Ying Rising and Australian three-year-old Tempted, walking away with $2 million in prize money.
However, even more impressively was the ride that Brown delivered the gelding.
The six-year-old’s usual race pattern is slow away from the gates, take a sit, then flash home late. But in The Everest, Brown pushed Jimmysstar forward early and sat outside Ka Ying Rising, showing another level to the chestnut’s game.
When reflecting on that decision to push Jimmysstar forward, the hoop revealed that is was actually Ciaron Maher who motivated the idea.
“Ciaron, his instruction was pretty much don't die wondering,” Brown told SENTrack & RSN’s Giddy Up.
“Like he jumps ok, but he just doesn't muster, and because he drew wide, if you snagged him back and went back to last, he (would’ve) had no hope.
“So, we elected him to stride.
“To be honest, when I found myself up outside Ka Ying Rising, I was quite surprised. I was happy, I was grinning, but I was surprised to have him that close.
“He ran his heart out! He's just such a good horse.
“Everything that's served up to him, he responds, and he gives his all - he showed that in the Everest.”
Brown even believed that the gelding’s huge effort in The Everest may have taken a bit out of the horse, but Jimmysstar proved him wrong.
In the sprinter’s next race, the 1300m Russell Balding, the son of Per Incanto went on to win by 2.67 lengths.
“I thought it might have taken a bit out of him that run,” said Brown.
“I know he was third-up there, but he brained them again in the Russell Balding, fourth-up.”
The hoop also heaped praise on Jimmysstar’s elite sprint home, comparing the horse to a motorbike.
“You can feel it,” Brown exclaimed.
“He's got a huge action for a small horse.
“You can feel him when he hits power bend, I suppose that's the best way to describe it - you hit turbo on the NOS button, that's sort of what it feels like with Jimmy.
“He just gets into that rhythm, he clicks into gear, and away he goes.”
