Berry true to his word for the late Neville Layt

On Saturday last at Royal Randwick, in the Vale Neville Layt Highway race on All Aged S. Day, Tommy Berry donned gold silks and a black armband, and climbed aboard the very last runner for the late trainer Neville Layt. It was a horse called Redicon, a Deep Field gelding from the Listed winner Royal Babe (Rory’s Jester). The pair finished unplaced, but it didn’t change the occasion a single bit.

“Regardless of the result, it was so good to ride Neville’s last runner at the races in his name,” Berry said. “I’ve had a great association with Neville for such a long time, so it was very special not only for me, but for the Layt family too.”

It was the first time Berry had piloted Redicon, a winner of three races for the late trainer. But the jockey was fulfilling a promise last Saturday, one he had made to Layt the last time he had seen the ailing trainer.

“About five or six weeks ago, I had gone down to have lunch with Neville, and he told me about Redicon heading up to the Highway at Randwick,” Berry said. “He mentioned it might be the last time I’d ever get to ride for him, and I said it would be a pleasure.”

When Layt passed away on April 20, Berry had little idea if Redicon was still nominated. He said it happens, you lose communication with trainers on an everyday level as life goes on. But on the night of Layt’s death, Berry got a call that confirmed the gelding would run in Sydney and, as is his way, the jockey was true to his word.

“I actually had another ride in the race for Kurt Goldman, but he released me from that so I could ride Redicon,” Berry said. “Kurt was great to do that, because it meant I could fulfill my last promise to Neville.”

Kings and Queen

Tommy Berry is one of the good guys in racing. In his early riding days, he kicked around the southern districts of New South Wales, which was how he struck a kinship with Layt at Queanbeyan.

One of the pair’s early associations was the gelding One More Grand (Snitzel), who won nine races for Layt across 60 lifetime starts. Berry’s first ride on the horse was at Rosehill in 2010, when they won a 2-year-old H. by nearly 4l.

“Neville was one of the trainers that really supported me early in my career, when I was claiming three and even four kilograms in the bush,” the jockey said. “I rode a lot of bad races for him, as you do when you start riding, but we struck up a good association and had a couple of really good horses along the way.”

One such was Karuta Queen, the ginger pocket-rocket by Not A Single Doubt who won her first four starts, including the $2 million R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic. Berry was her regular pilot through much of her scintillating career, which fell just shy of $2 million in prizemoney, and included the G3 Red Anchor S. at Moonee Valley, and a second behind Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) in the G2 Schillaci S.

“I remember the first time Neville asked me to ride her for her first start,” Berry said. “He said she might be the best 2-year-old he’d ever had, but I got to Rosehill and this tiny pit-pony walked into the yard with a mane down her to knees and a rough coat. I remember cantering down to the gates, and I said to Peter Robl next to me that I wasn’t sure how good a judge Neville was, because she didn’t look like a very good 2-year-old.”

Karuta Queen, with the blonde locks and ginger coat, towelled the field by 3.8l that October day in 2010. It was the first of 18 rides on her back for Tommy Berry.

“She was a real fast filly, and she always put herself on the speed,” he said. “It’s exciting when you get horses that quick that can lead all the way in races. You’re holding your breath the whole way down the straight, hoping they can get the job done.”

The jockey credits Karuta Queen with so much in his career, saying she’s the reason he landed a riding gig for Gai Waterhouse in 2011.

“Gai approached me after the Magic Millions win, saying I’d handled the pressure really well from the front, and that I’d be a good suit for her stable,” Berry said. “And that role with Gai really kicked off my career.”

Layt’s tremendous filly continued to kick goals, even in retirement.

Lodged at Strawberry Hill Stud, her first foal arrived in 2014, and her second, Eawase (Sebring), won a Listed race in Brisbane in 2015. In 2020, Karuta Queen’s fifth foal was sold at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $1.5 million to Sheamus Mills Bloodstock. Named Queen Of The Green (Written Tycoon), she is unraced with trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy.

Better Layt than never

For Berry, Layt’s passing was one of those things that sits heavy on memory.

“Neville wasn’t a father to me, and he wasn’t family, but he was a good friend,” the jockey said. “Some people just have an impact on your life, and you don’t really know what that impact is until they’re gone. When I started riding, he was just someone I rode for, but in the last four to five years it’s been more a friendship than anything to do with riding.”

Until recently, when illness beset him, Layt was still calling Berry to remind him he was watching from Queanbeyan. He’d tell the jockey how well he was riding, or how poorly.

“He wore his heart on his sleeve,” Berry said. “He always told you what he thought, but the good part about riding for Neville was that he was a jockey once upon a time, so he could read a race and the advice he’d give you was always warranted and appreciated.”

Berry said the trainer was respectful at the same time as being firm. Layt knew what it was like for apprentice riders, and accepted that mistakes would be made. Widely, it is one of the reasons why riding for ex-jockeys in the training game can be an insightful experience for young riders.

“When I’d go back and explain things that happened in a race to Neville, he’d get it,” Berry said. “And it’s the same with John Hawkes, who I ride for regularly. John was a jockey himself, so I’m very similar with the way I talk to him about races after I ride.”

Berry is big-time in Sydney these days, a heavy hitter in the tough and competitive environment of the Sydney jockeys’ room. He has won Golden Slippers, Doncasters and Sydney Cups, and ridden in Hong Kong a few times over.

Nevertheless, he has never lost the common touch, and doesn’t feel too far removed from his modest beginnings on the bush circuit.

“It doesn’t really concern me too much where I’m at now,” he said. “I’ve been able to make a pretty good go of it, but I’ll always remember the people that started me off. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am, and Neville was one of those key participants in my career.

“Going back to Country Cups, or riding for these guys again, I’m more than happy to do that if I can get it done. They’re still the same people as they were when I was growing up, and I’d like to think that I am as well.”

The generation game

Berry’s class is one of his finest assets and, in a career that has spiralled to the top in Australia, it has earned him rides on some of the best young horses in the game. Among those was Ole Kirk, who retired to Vinery Stud recently for the upcoming season.

The well-bred colt will head the Vinery roster at $55,000 (inc GST) and, trained by the Hawkes team throughout his career, he’s a familiar face for Berry. The pair partnered to win the G1 Golden Rose last year, as well as the G2 Run To The Rose.

“He was the star colt of his generation,” Berry said. “He’s very well-bred himself, and he’s a stunning-looking colt. He’s got a lot of attributes that will go really well if they’re passed on.”

Berry found Ole Kirk a tough customer in a race, and who loved a fight.

“He never gave up until he got to the end, and that’s a great characteristic to have as a horse,” he said.

He recalled that Pierata was similar and, while the jockey is looking forward to seeing if any of the new stallions’ progeny will boast similar tactics of trade, he added that the passing of time is a funny thing.

“You do start to feel old when you see progeny of horses you rode start running around,” he said. “It really does make you feel your age.”