It’ll be the same old story for Berry The Cash (NZ) (Jakkalberry) in his Australian debut at Warrnambool on Tuesday, carrying a clear topweight as he contests the time-honoured Brierly Steeplechase (3450m).
The class Awapuni jumper is no stranger to sitting on top of the book, carrying 73kg to victory in last year’s Sydenham Hurdles (3100m) and Grand National Hurdles (4200m), as well as 72.5kg at Hawke’s Bay. With most of New Zealand’s hurdling trophies locked away, trainer Mark Oulaghan decided it was time for Berry The Cash to take on his trans-Tasman counterparts at the famous May Carnival.
Berry The Cash competed solidly in Rating 75 company in two fitness-building runs before departing for Victoria on April 9. Having travelled and settled in well, the son of Jakkalberry stepped out in a hurdle trial at the course with regular hoop Portia Matthews in the saddle.
“He seems happy enough and healthy, he’s pretty well,” Oulaghan said. “He’s working well and condition-wise, we don’t have too many worries. He’s done everything right.
“He had a couple of runs there (New Zealand) first, it’s always hard for a jumping horse to compete against flat horses especially on firmish ground, which is what he was running on. We were happy with the runs.
“He came over here and had a jumping trial, it didn’t quite pan out how we’d wanted but he jumped well and finished it off so that was the main thing.”
Oulaghan has campaigned a number of horses in Australia previously, including at Oakbank, but this will be his first runner at the ‘Bool’.
“This is our first one down at Warrnambool,” he said. “Hopefully he’s the right horse, we don’t know that yet but he had good hurdle form in New Zealand.
“You probably need a hurdler if you’re going to come to Australia, it seems to be a good transition to hurdle in New Zealand then steeplechase here, so we followed that path.”
Berry The Cash is also nominated for Thursday’s showpiece, the Grand Annual Steeplechase (5550m), with Oulaghan intending to run in the A$350,000 event providing all goes to plan in the Brierly.
“He’ll have to go pretty well tomorrow to back up, but we intend to do so if possible,” he said.
After opening at $7, Berry The Cash has drifted to $16 in the TAB market, with Port Guillaume (Le Havre) ($3.70) and the Te Akau-trained Leaderboard (Street Cry) ($3.80) currently leading the market.
Other Kiwi-bred contenders runners include The Mighty Spar (NZ) (Savabeel), Duke Of Bedford (NZ) (Tavistock), Blandford Lad (NZ) (Savabeel) and Heir To The Throne (NZ) (Pentire).