Carnival Capers with Christian Nicolussi

Picture of Tommy Berry and his injured mother Julie at their home. Picture: Kelly Rohan
Source: The Daily Telegraph

JULIE Berry wants it known her jockey son Tommy Berry won’t be away in Hong Kong for three months.

Mum’s counting the days 

JULIE Berry wants it known her jockey son Tommy Berry won’t be away in Hong Kong for three months.

“It’s only eight weeks and two days, I’ve already worked it out,” said Berry’s mum, who is $1.04 to shed a river of tears at the airport tomorrow night when Berry flies out.

Julie has had plenty on her mind this week, which may have stopped her from thinking about life without one of her twin sons for the winter.

She was squashed by a horse that took fright in a hailstorm last Thursday at Warwick Farm, and suffered a fractured sternum and three busted ribs.

Things got worse when Julie had a reaction to some medication, with doctors weighing up whether to put her into an induced coma.

“But I got out of hospital on Tuesday,” Julie said.

The proud mother attended Warwick Farm to watch her son in action for one of the last times yesterday. She said she had not watched a race live involving either of her boys since Nathan took a bad tumble at a Canterbury night meeting a few years back.

“I listen to it on radio, watch the replays, or turn away and look at the reaction on the face of my friends or family around me,” Julie said.

Tommy has a good book of rides on Sunday and says he’ll do the form from the pointy end of a plane.

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Let’s all  raise a  glass to  Pierro 

SOME of the brilliant performances by Pierro were dead-set worth bottling.

Well, err, it turns out a vineyard in Western Australia has been doing just that.

Pierro vineyard in the magnificent Margaret River has built up its own cult following, long before the five-time Group 1 winner made a name for himself on the track.Owner Greg Kolivos used to enjoy the local drop, and it was while sitting around one lazy afternoon at the vineyard that he came up with the name Pierro for his champion horse.

Kolivos told us he cracked open a bottle of Pierro cabernet sauvignon on Saturday after the Doncaster loss, because the red suited his mellow and reflective mood.

The vineyard’s owner Mike Peterkin received a phone call from trainer Gai Waterhouse when Pierro was about to race. Peterkin told us Waterhouse declared Pierro a future Golden Slipper winner, “to which I said, ‘yeah, sure’.

“I’ve owned my share of slow horses,” Peterkin said.

But Peterkin was delighted with the success of his vineyard’s namesake, and also disappointed by his retirement news at the start of the week. He’s shipped plenty of boxes over to the east coast for Waterhouse’s owners to

enjoy in recent years.

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STILL on Pierro, owner Greg Kolivos is giving nothing away when it comes to stud negotiations. Newgate Farm was the street-corner tip last week, only for whispers to emerge this week Coolmore was the new favourite. Kolivos told Carnival Capers via text message: “Sorry, but as I’ve said to all the others, I’m not commenting or discussing anything to do with Pierro, studs or anything related.”

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COREY Brown told us he will shack up with respected jockey Christophe Lemaire during his two-month stint in France later this year.

Brown rode his last race in Sydney yesterday and heads to Singapore then France before he returns home in August.

The hoop said the time away would help “reignite the fire” after “going through the motions” in recent months.

While he’ll stay in a unit in Singapore, his French digs will be a little more lavish.

“I’ll stay with Christophe in Chantilly, the place they call horse heaven,” Brown said. “I only ride two days a week in Singapore. That’s plenty of time to play golf and learn French.”SPEAKING of French, we met former Mauritian hoop Jacques Luxe at Warwick Farm yesterday. Visa dramas have made sure his apprenticeship has dragged on for years and taken him from Melbourne to Tasmania and now Warwick Farm on loan with Gary Nickson.

Luxe, who has the coolest  name in racing, also told us he’s a handy cook.

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TIGER TALE

THERE was plenty of brouhaha when Shiso and jockey Peter Robl got the cash in the last at Canterbury on Wednesday for trainer Kurt Goldman.

Robl told us he enjoyed a week-long bucks party in Las Vegas last year, which included Goldman, most of the Shiso owners, as well as fellow hoop Blake Shinn.

Asked how his efforts in Sin City would have compared with The Hangover’s “Phil”, “Stu” and “Alan”, Robl said: “I reckon we would have outdone them. We did everything except wake up with a tiger in our hotel room.”

PAX PRODUCE

DARLEY unearthed another smart two-year-old at Warwick Farm yesterday when Paximadia won and earned a trip north for a possible shot at the Group 1 Sires Produce (1400m) and Group 1 T.J. Smith (1600m).

FLOAT CLANGER

ANTHONY Cummings was slugged $500 by stewards yesterday after an employee accidentally loaded the wrong horse on to the truck bound for Warwick Farm.

Poet’s Fortune arrived just in time for the third event after stablemate Ireland’s Teardrop was taken out west by mistake.

“The fella went to box 61 instead of box 62,” Cummings said. “It doesn’t get any more complicated than that.”

HAPPY 2ND

IF All Too Hard is the best horse in John and Michael Hawkes’ stable, who is the second best?

“Happy Galaxy,” Michael Hawkes said.

“He did a good job to win at weight-for-age as a three-year-old (in the Expressway Stakes), he’s back in work and we’ll see him in the early part of the spring. Niwot and Maluckyday are also up there, but Happy Galaxy is the young horse coming through.”

Happy Galaxy has won five of his eight career starts.
 

Carnival Capers with Christian Nicolussi