BIG FEATURE RACE CHOICES AWAIT TOP JOCKEYS

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, September 7, 2022

At a time when Racing NSW marketing machine usually starts ramping up the noise surrounding the $15 million The Everest to point where their Victorian counterparts are left shaking their heads and putting their hands over their ears, an unlikely, but very informed source has given his take on the standing of the NSW / Victoria feature race tug-of-war.

Gun Sydney based jockey Tommy Berry, taking to Racenet, had very clear views on the subject.

"I haven't got an Everest ride yet so I'm open to going to Melbourne on Caulfield Cup Day. I'm not going to hang around in Sydney just because it's Everest day. If I can get a good Caulfield Cup ride, I'll be on the plane.”

Due to a now lengthy, often ugly, on-going impasse between Racing NSW and Racing Victoria with regard to big race scheduling, The Everest and the Caulfield Cup are both due to take place on October 15.

"When you meet someone for the first time and they find out you're a jockey, the question they ask is … have you won a Melbourne Cup? They don't ask if you've won an Everest," Berry told Racenet.

"The Everest will continue to grow, but it will never match the Melbourne Cup for national importance,” added Berry.

The chances are that the majority of people will absolutely be able to relate to the sentiments expressed by Berry with perhaps the only ‘surprise’ in there being the fact that this opinion is openly being put forward by a Sydney based rider.

The Caulfield Cup is a big player in the lead-up to the Melbourne Cup and with connections largely wanting to lock a jockey in for both of those assignments it does make a jockey’s choice, as indicated by Berry, a touch more significant than if we were only talking about one meeting (The Everest) versus the other (the Caulfield Cup) without any roll-on effect into the Melbourne Cup.

Taking last year’s statistics into account, Berry’s possible emphasis on being ready to secure a ride in the Caulfield Cup … with a Melbourne Cup ride in mind … could be a well-placed strategy.

Last year, no less than thirteen riders who participated in the Caulfield Cup went on to secure Melbourne Cup rides, while only three of the twelve jockeys involved in The Everest rode in The Cup … with the likes of Bowman, Rawiller and Berry himself, missing from the country’s signature racing event on the famous first Tuesday in November.

It really is an interesting dynamic for jockeys to work with, particularly for those who, like Berry, want to fulfill their childhood dreams by adding the two major Victorian Cups to their honour roll.

The big money draw from The Everest of course has its own magnetic pull for riders, but for punters though, all of these super feature races represent a smorgasbord of the best level of racing that Australia has to offer and they will lap it up and try to work out the winners as usual, whether racing is in Sydney or Melbourne and whichever jockey rides whatever horse.

It’s just a great time to be racing.