Gutsy Greyworm eases Berry’s disappointment

Written by Richard Edmunds

Cover image by Dan Himbrechts courtesy of AAP Photos

An outstanding front-running win with Greyworm (Master Of Design) in the G3 TAB Hall Mark S. at Randwick on Saturday has gone a long way towards easing Tommy Berry’s disappointment after falling agonisingly short of a perfect farewell to one of his favourites.

The jockey had to settle for a desperately close second aboard Pierata (Pierro) in his final start before retiring to stud. The pair were beaten by a mere nose by Tofane (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}) in a head-bobbing finish to the G1 Schweppes All Aged S.

Berry rode Pierata in 13 of his 26 starts, winning four including last year’s All Aged S. He was hoping to bring their successful partnership to a close with a defence of that title, but it wasn’t to be.

“It’s a bit emotional to speak about him now,” Berry said. “It was his last start.

“I’ve ridden horses who have won more Group 1 races than him, but I don’t think I’ve ridden many that try as hard.

“He put everything on the line today. I thought he might have got there. He travelled like a champ and showed his never-die attitude. It took a good horse to beat him today. Those great fighting qualities that he holds will stand him in good stead when he goes to stud.”

The Hall Mark S. was an excellent consolation for Berry, who had his first ever race ride on the up-and-comer Greyworm.

The grey 5-year-old was up against a stellar cast of sprinters on Saturday but never gave any of them a chance, leading all the way and winning by 1.25l.

The second, third, fourth and fifth placegetters were all previous Group 1 winners – Trekking (Street Cry {Ire}), Kementari (Lonhro), Le Romain (Hard Spun {USA}) and In Her Time (Time Thief).

“This bloke has beaten a good field today,” Berry said. “Other jockeys have been on him in the past, and I was lucky enough to pick up the ride today.

“He’s a real honest bugger. He’s so tough. When he gets his own way in front, he rarely gets beaten. He has a high cruising speed, and it really helps that you don’t have to get at him early in the straight. I was able to wait until about the 300 before I asked him for a supreme effort.

“He had to step up today, he’s never been up against this sort of class, but he handled them very well.”

As a 3-year-old, Greyworm was a $110,000 purchase from the Inglis Digital Monthly Jan Sale.

Trained by Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes for an ownership group that features Garry Lui, Wingrove Park Pty Ltd and Eden Park Stud, Greyworm has now won eight of his 14 starts and $486,350 in stakes.

“Garry is at the farm in Melbourne at the moment,” Michael Hawkes said. “He is pretty excited, I was on the phone to him then and he was doing a bit of yelling and screaming.

“They are great owners, they don’t interfere, they let us do what we need to do, and Greyworm keeps producing his best every time. That’s all you can ask for in a racehorse.

“He is a horse that has just kept improving. He has never put a foot wrong since he has joined our stable.

“He is just a pure racehorse. When they get to him, he just seems to find more, and that is what he’s about. He’s beaten some pretty handy horses there behind him, but he is a pretty handy horse himself.

“Today was his test, he has never been up against this calibre of horse before.

“The only real instruction I gave to Tommy was, ‘If you do get to the front, just hang on to him until you get to the top of the rise. If you get to the top of the rise, you know you’re home, because they’ve got to get past you.’

“He rode him perfectly, and it has been a great effort by the team. He is a lovely fresh horse and he is only getting better as he gets older.”