For the first time in their careers, Sydney’s riding twins Tommy and Nathan Berry fought out the quinella in a stakes race at Rosehill on Saturday.
Tommy came out the victor on the John O’Shea-trained Alberton Park in the Listed June Stakes (1100m) but it could been a different story if Paul Perry, trainer of runner-up Stratana, had had his way.
“I rang Tommy to ride Stratana but he was so adamant he was on the winner he couldn’t be persuaded,” Perry said.
Berry is a retained rider for Gai Waterhouse who did not have a runner in the June Stakes and jumped at the chance to ride Alberton Park.
His brother did his best to close the gap on him but could not get the result with Alberton Park ($2.80 fav) the winner by three-quarters of a length.
“You tried to stuff me up but I still got you,” Tommy told his brother.
“I was cursing Nathan when he closed the gap on me.
“She’s only got a short turn of foot and when she got out she exploded.”
The win was some compensation for the O’Shea camp after favourite Sea Siren finished ninth in the Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm.
O’Shea’s foreman Bryce Heyes said the win was a deserved one for Alberton Park who was placed in two stakes races over the autumn and a close sixth in the Group One Coolmore Classic.
“She deserves to win a race like this,” Heyes said.
“I’m delighted for (owner) Tony Bott. He has some nice fillies with us and the aim has been to get black type with her.
“I told Tommy he was on the best horse in the race and to ride her accordingly.
“We put the blinkers on today to keep her sharp and it worked.”
The brothers may get the chance for a rematch with both Alberton Park and Stratana scheduled to line up in the Takeover Target Stakes at Gosford on Friday week.
It is something Nathan Berry would like,
“It’s becoming a habit. A habit I don’t like, finishing second to him,” he said.
“He’s already beating me in the premiership.
“I think on a drier track it could have been a different story.”
The Rosehill meeting was run on slow (6).
Tommy Berry is running fifth in the Sydney premiership with Nathan out of the top 15 in a season that has been marred for him by several careless riding suspensions.
