Speaker 1Apart from working for Sky Racing and doing radio shows when requested, I also manage a couple of jockeys and one of those is Tommy Berry. He's coming onto the show to talk to us this morning. The producers don't think I've talked to you enough, Tommy, so they thought we'd get us to talk on air as well. How's things?
Speaker 2Yeah, I think you might disagree with that. I think they'll call you more than what you like, but no, it's always good to have you on, mate.
Speaker 1No, no, thank you for coming on this morning. I know how busy it is, particularly at this time of year, but it's actually one day where you're not going to the races. So thanks for joining us. Look, we've got a stack of rides to get through. We've got a bit of time to do it, which is good, but we'll start with Ninja. He's the horse everyone seems to be the most interested in. He's going around in the shorts on Saturday on the back of that brilliant first up win. Obviously, it's going to be a great race there on Saturday with Jolie, Starhead, Wall and Co, but are you happy with where he's at?
Speaker 2Yeah, we're really happy with where he's at. Obviously, we're a four-star. We've ordered a bit of time with him to sort of take our time through the rest of the preparation to get to the Everest with him already gaining a slot. And, you know, it was nice to see that he was so impressive in the Missile. It's sort of every time a good horse comes back, the first up run is always probably the most important in the fact that you get to see how they've returned. And he did that in fine style, obviously, with, you know, running very good time and just doing it the way he did. So we're very pleased with that. He had, I think, 10 or 12 days in the paddock after that, had a nice tick over trial, and his work on Tuesday morning suggests everything's in fine form leading into the weekend.
Speaker 1He's a horse that we still haven't got anyone near the bottom of, right? Like, he's just one of those excitement machines. He seems to have a stride twice as long as his body. Does he give you a feel of a proper horse?
Speaker 2He does. He's probably a horse that's given me excitement that I haven't had for a few years, especially about a sprint. So I've ridden some great sprinters in Chautauqua and Pirata and horses like that. And it's been a while since I've been on one of that quality. And not saying that this guy's anywhere near that yet, but he's definitely got the potential to get to some heights similar to that. And, you know, as you said, we're so far from the bottom of him, it's not funny. It's probably taken up till this practice to get him to start to do things right, and his racing manners have come a long way. And he's still got no pattern to the way that you ride him. I think he's a horse that adapts pretty well to speed in a race. If there's no speed, he's obviously raced on speed a few times. And when there's been good speed in races, he's been able to come from behind. And arguably some of his best performances have been when he's been ridden quiet. So on Saturday, he's probably no different. 1,100 is different for him as well because he's not used to running over a sprint trip over that distance. So where he's going to be in the run on the weekend is going to be a good question. I've got no idea. He's drawn a barrier where I can sort of ride him to suit himself and not so much the race. And it's going to be an interesting race. There's a few horses in the race that are there to make a statement. There's others that are first up, like a Jolly Star who has a slot if she wants it, I guess, with Chris Wallace. So she's not going to be out there to do anything silly. Headwall's probably the horse that's there to win and ready to go. We're our bloke. You know, I think... I think if he's hitting the line strong late, we'd be very pleased with that.
Speaker 1Yeah, for sure. I mean, the barrier's not ideal to be aggressive. So we'll just see how the race pans out. But yeah, he looks to be coming. He looks to be backing great, Nick. And he's certainly adding a real extra dimension as we head towards the Tab Everest. We've had a couple of people on this morning, Tommy, and it's an interesting Everest this year because Ka-Ying Rising is such a dominant favourite. And it's almost like if you're not in that top five or six where you think you can give that superstar a real race... run for his money, then they're almost looking at the other option on the day, which is the $2 million Sydney Stakes. But Ninja and Jolie, Star and Headwall, surely they're the sort of calibre horses that could take on Ka-Ying.
Speaker 2Yeah, exactly. That's right. And Tempted as well. You could definitely throw her into that mix. She's probably arguably the one to beat outside of the favourite. And look, you can understand why a lot of other connections are shying away from the opportunity to run in an Everest this year. I think once you get past fifth or sixth prize money from Everest, everyone that keeps telling me it's not a massive financial gain for them once you split up between the slots and the owners and everything like that. So a lot are going to the Sydney Stakes. And I think even over the past when we've had strong Everest and very even fields, the Sydney Stakes is always a great race. Sometimes they run similar or even faster time than the Everest on the day. I know Pierre Arda did the year he won it. And so it's always a great race anyway. And I think this year... I know Brianna... So I'm pretty sure they're leaning towards a Sydney Stakes with him. Kerbalos trawled really well the other day. He's probably heading that way. We know that Yellow Brick is probably going to come down from Queensland. So it's going to be a very strong race as it is every year.
Speaker 1Yeah, it always is. It just makes the day, doesn't it, Everest Day? We're talking to David Pfeiffer, I think it was before, and just getting a runner racing on Everest Day now for owners. It's a bit like when I was a young bloke and you can have a runner on Melbourne Cup Day. It's all like now if you get a runner on Everest Day. It's like you've made it.
Speaker 2Yeah, exactly. And I guess for people participating in the day, whether it's trainers and jockeys, it'd be like going out for a grand final if you're in the NRL. And getting a ticket to an NRL grand final or a State of Origin is very hard to do these days. And it's very similar on Everest Day now. So if you want to be there on the day, you get in early. And I think anyone that's ever been to an Everest Day, they back up and want to do it every year. So it's not just a ticket off the bucket list item. It's a... It's something that once you've been able to be there and get a taste of it, it's something you're going to get back and want to do every year. That's for sure.
Speaker 1All right, let's get on to Queen's Gamble going around the T-Row Stakes. She's got the two wins next to her name. It's a race where we were just talking to Timmy Clark about horses coming out of the 1200, stretching to 14 with an eye to the flight stakes at 1600. Queen's Gamble's a little bit different to that. She almost looks as though she's crying out for the mile already.
Speaker 2Yeah, well, that's going to be the test for her. She's at the 13. 1400 metre run now. And she probably is looking for the mile. But in saying that, at least we know that she's been strong at the end of the 1400. She's won her last two starts by a margin and did it running time, did it from back in the field. So she's a very versatile filly. If she drew a barrier, I'd have no qualms of putting her just beyond the speed. So I like her a lot. From the first time I sat on her at Canterbury, I remember saying to you, like, we've got to... Stick with this one. There's just something about her. And she's improved all preparation. Her racing manners of just switching off and getting to relax. I think Matthew Smith and his team has done an incredible job with her. And look, I guess the biggest query with her is she is getting into the sort of the end of her preparation. They're having a fair few runs where a few of these are sort of just on the way up. So I think she'll run very well on the weekend. But that's probably going to determine where she goes. If she goes off light stakes or she might be close to looking for the pass. So I think it's going to be very, very dramatic. But from all reports, the team says she's in great order.
Speaker 1Good to hear. All right. The Kingston Town Stakes, Boniface, one of the new kids on the block. And he broke through for that very well-deserved win last start. He's drawn mid-middle of the pack for the Kingston Town. And he's hard in the market again on Saturday.
Speaker 2Yeah, look, he's going to get a lovely run from a good alley again. And, you know, he's a horse that's on the way up. He's very consistent when he gets a big go of his way. The form out of his win last start. The second and third horse have both come out and franked that. So that's always nice to see. And, you know, you've got a few hard heads like your Soler Spains and at least these that have been around the block a few more times than him and raced in that sort of quality races that he hasn't yet. So he's got to sort of step up from what he's been doing. But the team are very happy with how he's gone. I think the break in between runs suits a horse like him. He's not overly big. And he's got what a lot of these have in him. He's a really good turn of foot on his day. So, look, it's a very competitive race. You've got a horse like Green Spaces going around at $9. So I think that sort of shows you, you know, the competitive nature of the race that we're up against on Saturday.
Speaker 1Now, we've also got the Bill Ritchie there on Saturday where 60s for Chris Waller has come up with barrier two. Now, 54 kilos. A lot of people won't understand how these bookings of rides work, Tommy. But in this particular example, we had a day where we thought we were going to get a bit of weight relief. You could probably sit around the 50. You could probably sit around the 55 kilo mark. But a late call up from Chris, and you put your hand up and said, "No, I'll be able to do the 54 kilos." So you must think 60s is a big chance.
Speaker 2Yeah, not only that, Chris knows that 54 isn't overly easy for me to do either. So they don't really offer them rides unless they think they're good chances. And 60s fits that category. He's a horse that I heard on Chris's show yesterday that he loves him. He's one of his favourites. And that's obviously because of just how consistent he is. So the only query would be one trial into a 1400 first up. So if he'd had the two trials or even a trial and a run, I'd be very confident going into tomorrow. But you've got Hadley Grange and Artoff, Mr. Miller, they've had a few runs into their prep. So they're probably a little bit more forward than what he is. But the good alley gives him a chance to get into a nice spot. He's got quality on his side. And he'll be right there at the finish. But whether tomorrow is his day is a query, just the set up he's had so far.
Speaker 1We've also got a massive meeting at Newcastle, which is coming up on Friday. The Cameron Handicap. You're on the favourite, Mr. Miller. him there he is also in the bill richie where he's drawn the outside but he hasn't drawn perfectly in the cameron either he's drawn 11 of 14 and again the 54 kilos to spin him around but he's
Speaker 2a very exciting horse yeah he's a real uh improver he's chris sort of identifies one or two horses every year that um haven't sort of got the rating to be in a uh an epsom yet but he he picks a path to put him through to get him in whether it's an exempt ballot which we've got on friday and saturday for mr miller and and our tops in a similar sort of situation there even though he's got a higher rating but um you know he's a lovely horse he he does everything right he puts himself into a spot he relaxes he quickens well and i still think the best he's ahead of him i i think he'll really come into his own own in the autumn uh but it's a really nice sort of stepping stone for him to go through his spring campaign and and whatever way he does go i'm sure chris will choose the right race for him for me i'm going to say saturday looks a little bit tougher so hopefully he goes on friday and uh newcastle is obviously a beautiful big track where you can win from anywhere so if he goes there he's going to be extremely hard to beat and in what's a very
Speaker 1competitive competitive race once again yeah it certainly is uh and obviously altof going around as well chris to decide what he does with him he's also in the camera and uh we also have a look at the tibby uh we had fifa on day fifa earlier he had trains o diamond lil she's come up with barrier one she's sort of nudging favoritism at the moment with tab for the group three mares race it's over 1400 and she's come up with barrier one and she's sort of nudging favoritism at the moment she's not one-dimensional but she's at her best when she sort of gets control
Speaker 2yeah that's right i i when i first looked at um where she'd run last start when when you took the ride i was a little bit disappointed because i know what she's capable of and then i went and watched the race and um she had to absorb a lot of pressure pretty much the whole way down that back straight first up over over 1400 so she was always going to be uh you know finding it a little bit uh tough at the end there and she still stuck on really well i thought to that last 50 meters so um hopefully she's come out of that that run quite well i know dave's very good at getting horses to um spring off tough tough runs he's a little bit easy on him going into their second run which is good um she's drawn barrier one so she gets the advantage over horses like perfumist and um the horse that was underneath the other day just glamorous to hold the front if she wants it but it's been a long time since she's taken a seat she looks like she relaxes a lot better than what she used to so if they want to overdo it i think um you know saturday might be an opportunity for her to take a sit and and still show her best but um she's a tough on on speed mare and um i'm sure she'll run really well like a price suggest
Speaker 1on friday right oh tommy we've covered them all all the big chances there on friday and saturday uh you're obviously feeling well fit healthy hit the 54 kilo mark so all looking good for the rest
Speaker 2of the spring yeah no it is it's um it's been really good a bit of a frustrating couple of um a nice sort of couple of weeks to look forward to uh on paper and um yeah there's there's plenty of plenty of nice horses to go around so if you're not up and about for this time of year then you probably shouldn't be doing it so and i'm really looking forward to it yeah 100 and of
Speaker 1course we do have the official two-year-old trials coming out on monday those fields will be out later today and i know plenty of punters love to watch those first official two-year-old trials so sky therapy central have all of those covered as usual they do every year they do a great job covering those on monday so we'll find a few numbers and we'll see you next week
Speaker 2nice two-year-olds tommy and hopefully find the next slipper winner 100 no i appreciate it thanks for having me on the show paul
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