Tommy Berry is back loving racing but, more importantly, loving his family and himself.
A year after returning from a betting ban, Berry has again climbed to the top of the Sydney riding ranks, and he credits the spell with enabling him to see the important things in life.
There is a confidence around Tommy Berry but he is realistic with his goals going forward. Credit: Getty
Berry has had his share of success riding around the world, but it became his life while he was still haunted by the death of his twin brother, Nathan, 10 years ago.
“I never took time off and dealt with that,” Berry said. “The time off [because of the betting ban] allowed me to do that, and I’m in a much better place because of it.
″I finally realised how good my life was and that I had a beautiful family. I was going to the races before [the ban] and not liking it.
“That’s something I never thought would happen and probably shouldn’t have happened. Now I know how lucky I am and I go to the races with a smile on my face. I’m in a much better space, and it shows in every area of my life.”
Berry looked at his stats for last season, which comprised 104 winners – 59 in the metropolitan area – in just 10 months back in the saddle. There wasn’t a group 1 victory among them, but it set down a base for him.
He still wants to win group 1 races, and a Sydney premiership is also a goal, but he is realistic enough to know that that will be tough while James McDonald is in town. But most of all, he wants to pay back those that helped him.
“My manager, Paul Joice, has been through a lot with me, and I know I let him down in the first year he was doing the job,” Berry said. “He is like the bloke who balances me out. I’m like a bull at a gate, and he is there to slow me down and make me think.
“There are goals we want to achieve, winning big races, but he will get me to slow down at the right times. I nearly got to my goals last season and would have if I didn’t take a break at the end.
“Paul tells me we had a great season, and I want next year to be better. I don’t think winning the premiership is realistic while J-Mac is around, but running second to him is a pretty good season.”
Talk to Joice and he runs through a couple of rides Berry already has booked for the spring, the main one being Amelia’s Jewel.
George Altomonte with Tommy Berry and Gai Waterhouse after Overreach’s Golden Slipper win in 2013.Credit: Dallas Kilponen
“He is back to being the Tommy everyone knew and liked,” Joice said. “He is back to being himself, and you are seeing that on the track.”
Berry had always been a man who thought about others before himself, and a social media message yesterday morning showed that side of him as he remembered the man who gave him the first of his three Golden Slipper winners, George Altomonte.
“I’m devastated to hear the passing of George Altomonte,” Berry wrote. “He was a beautiful humble man who loved his racing and breeding, winning the Golden Slipper for him aboard Overreach is a day I hold close to my heart and I know he did as well. Thinking of his beautiful family.”
It was classy words from the 33-year-old. Berry starts the new season at Rosehill on Saturday with a book of rides that could deliver a couple of winners if things go right. He will ride Kazou as a favourite, while Blackcomb, Kandinsky Abstract and Centrestone give him a chance to start the season on the right note.
“Kazou probably just has to run the trip to be very hard to beat,” Berry said. “It is good to be getting rides from Chris Waller, and I think Centrestone coming down from Brisbane is a good sign. I spoke to J-Mac about Kandinsky Abstract and he said he has always had talent, which might come out now he is gelding.
“I really like Blackcomb on the quick back-up from last week, so it could a good day.
“But if it isn’t I will go home to my family and be happy.”
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