A miscommunication almost cost Tyler Schiller the chance to test Gatineau in a recent barrier trial, but there won’t be any such mix-ups ahead of the juvenile’s debut at Rosehill.
Schiller was accidentally legged aboard Gatineau’s stablemate Blackbelt, who contested the same 900m heat on June 19, and it wasn’t until the horses arrived at the starting stalls that the error was picked up and rectified.
“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 said.
“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 went on the finish second in the heat and Gatineau fourth, but the latter caught the eye as he closed strongly under his own steam and on the heels of the placegetters.
While he faces a challenge taking on more experienced horses in Saturday’s Thank You ATC Members Handicap (1100m) at Rosehill, Schiller says Gatineau has natural talent and is keen to see what he can produce under race conditions.
“I thought his trial was terrific. He trucked up behind them well,” Schiller said.
“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.”
If Gatineau can win, he will continue a great end to the season for Hawkes Racing’s two-year-olds.
The stable produced All Too Hard youngster Why So Hard for an impressive victory at Randwick on June 6, and Marwooba to score at Rosehill a week later.
Schiller, who does the bulk of the riding for John, Wayne and Michael Hawkes in Sydney, says the late season surge has come as no surprise.
“We had a few early in the season that had setbacks with shin soreness and that sort of thing,” he said.
“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 is likewise hoping the Jim and Greg Lee-trained Glorious Moments can continue his winning momentum when he makes his black-type debut in the Listed Winter Stakes (1400m).
The gelding has won four of his seven starts and showed tenacity to lift under a big weight when successful at Randwick last time out, adding intrigue to the line-up of usual suspects 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 said.
