Jameka’s boy Federer impresses on debut

Jameka was a star on the track and she proved she can also throw a nice type with Federer indicating he is well above-average in a brilliant debut victory at Ballarat on Thursday.

The son of Dundeel unwound a powerful finish to demolish his rivals by 3-1/2 lengths in the 1400-metre Porter Plant Maiden Plate.

The gelding had to wait until eight days into his four-year-old season to get to the track, with a fractured pelvis necessitating a long stint on the sidelines, but Declan Maher, the Ballarat assistant to Federer’s trainer Ciaron Maher, said it was pleasing to see him demonstrate his talent.

“After I galloped him at Avoca I said, ‘if this horse gets beat at his first start I said I’m going to give up training’,” Maher said.

“He’s a nice horse and I’m just rapt for all the people in him.”

Federer is the second foal from Jameka, a daughter of Myboycharlie whose biggest win came in the Caulfield Cup (2400m), while she also won a Tancred Stakes (2400m) and VRC Oaks (2500m) at Group 1 level.

Her first foal Sir Bailey, a son of Impending, was a two-time winner from 16 starts but is now retired.

Jameka is the middle name of tennis champion Serena Williams and Federer’s debut win came on the 43rd birthday of the male tennis player of the same name.

Ben Allen was the lucky recipient of the ride at Ballarat after Ethan Brown was a late withdrawal from the meeting and was full of praise for Federer.

“It doesn’t get much better than that,” Allen said.

“Going around to the start I thought, ‘he’s a bit of a lad, he’s having a good look around’ and he was quite strong but in the run but he couldn’t have given me a nicer rider.

“He settled well, just relaxed on the bit, and as soon as I clicked him up it felt like I had heaps of gears there.

“He still is a little bit green but he’s a very, very nice horse.”

Jameka also has a three-year-old filly, also by Dundeel, named Miss Alexis and a two-year-old Ghaiyyath filly named Adira River in training with Maher.