Peter Snowden fought back tears as he described his honour in winning Saturday’s Nathan Berry Tulloch Stakes, named in honour of the late jockey.
The Darley trainer has known the Berry twins since they were born and like many in the industry was struggling to come to terms with Nathan’s sudden death this week.
Gallatin - Photo by Steve Hart
“To win a race in his name means a hell of a lot today,” Snowden said.
“It’s still pretty raw at the moment.”
Gallatin was ridden patiently by Nash Rawiller who settled him towards the rear before weaving a passage through the field and setting out after Singing Flame who had kicked clear.
He arrived just in time to overhaul Singing Flame by a short neck with that pair two lengths clear of Best Case in third.
Gallatin had won one of his seven starts before Saturday’s Rosehill feature and started at $26 but Snowden wasn’t surprised by the victory.
“He’s always shown a lot. He’s been very immature. Him doing that today has been on the cards for a while, it was just a matter of waiting for it to happen,” Snowden said.
“Nash rode a very patient race.
“It was just a matter of threading his way through the field and finding the right sort of luck and at the 200 metres I could see him just smoking.
“He made up a lot of ground pretty quickly and he handled the track well which probably helped but he’s a horse of some promise.”
Next week’s ATC Australian Derby (2400m) at Randwick is the obvious target for Gallatin but Snowden said he would see how the horse recovered before deciding if he would line up.
“I’ll have to think about it. He’s still a bit immature and he’ll have to back up again next week,” Snowden said.
“The feed bin will probably be the best indication.”
