A communication breakdown nearly prevented Tyler Schiller from assessing Gatineau in a recent barrier trial, but such errors will be avoided before the juvenile’s debut at Rosehill.
Schiller was mistakenly placed on Gatineau’s stablemate Blackbelt, who competed in the same 900m heat on June 19. The mistake was only discovered and corrected once the horses reached the starting stalls.
“There was a bit of a mix-up, and I ended up on the other horse of the Hawkes’ in the trial on the way to the gates,” Schiller recounted. “Jay Ford was on the grey (Gatineau) going to the gates, and he’d been told to win the trial. I obviously wasn’t told that, but I knew he was expected to go out there and perform well, so I just gave him a good experience.”
Blackbelt secured second place in the heat, while Gatineau finished fourth. However, Gatineau’s performance was notable as he finished strongly under his own power, close to the placegetters.
Despite facing a tougher field of more experienced competitors in Saturday’s Thank You ATC Members Handicap (1100m) at Rosehill, Schiller believes Gatineau possesses natural talent and is eager to witness his race-day performance.
“I thought his trial was terrific. He trucked up behind them well,” Schiller stated. “He’s got plenty of ability. It will be interesting to see what he does when he gets a gap and hits the front, because I know sitting behind them on the bridle can be a different story.”
Should Gatineau prove victorious, he would extend Hawkes Racing’s successful late-season run with their two-year-olds.
The stable previously saw the All Too Hard colt Why So Hard achieve a convincing win at Randwick on June 6, followed by Marwooba’s victory at Rosehill a week later.
Schiller, who handles most of the riding duties for John, Wayne, and Michael Hawkes in Sydney, indicated that this late-season surge is not unexpected.
“We had a few early in the season that had setbacks with shin soreness and that sort of thing,” he explained. “They’ve missed all the big races, but the team has been able to get the horses into races where they can knock off a two-year-old win before they turn three. The team has been going well of late, so hopefully we can keep up the momentum.”
Schiller also expressed hope that the Jim and Greg Lee-trained gelding Glorious Moments can maintain his winning streak in his black-type debut in the Listed Winter Stakes (1400m). The gelding has won four of his seven starts and demonstrated resilience when winning with a significant weight at Randwick last start, adding an interesting element to the usual contenders in the feature sprint. “It’s a quality field, so you can’t say he’s going to come out and be dominant, but I think he’s a really good chance down in the weights,” Schiller commented.
For those looking to back a winner, consider the available betting markets for the feature sprint at Rosehill this Saturday via Australian betting sites.
