Craig Kerry
Greg Lee still sees the 1987 Epsom Handicap as the one that got away for himself and his brother, Jim.
Coming from last and held up badly until the final 200m, Jim Lee-trained Tierra Rist stormed home to finish third under Lance O’Sullivan in the group 1 mile handicap at Randwick.
“We should have won it,” Greg said. “I still have a go at Lance O’Sullivan. I tell him, ‘You cost us an Epsom’. He laughs and says ‘I know’.”
Thirty-nine years later, he believes “nearly the best horse we’ve had” will win the listed Winter Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill and Saturday, then give them a second chance at the Epsom in the spring.
Glorious Moments, a four-year-old which has twice overcome setbacks to rack up four wins in seven starts, steps up to stakes grade for the first time since finishing down the track in the 2024 Pago Pago Stakes.
Battles with a quarter-crack ruined Glorious Moments’ two-year-old season before he returned last winter with Canterbury super maiden and Randwick Saturday wins. Surgery to remove a bone chip forced another break before Warwick Farm and Randwick victories either side of a luckless sixth this time in.
Glorious Moments, an $85,000 son of Brutal and Stretan, motored home to narrowly win a 1400m benchmark 78 handicap last start and Greg was confident he would handle the jump in class. The market agreed, pushing him into a $3.40 TAB favourite on Friday ahead of dominant Civic Stakes winner Midnight Dynamite ($3.90). Tyler Schiller rides Glorious Moments at 53 kilograms from gate four.
“I think he’ll win,” Lee said. “It’s his first time in that grade and it will test him out, but it will tell you how good he is. I think he’s a Doncaster chance.
“Hopefully he’ll be in the first four, he’s got nothing on his back, he drops seven and a half kilos on his last start, and he can run time.”
Rosehill was a heavy 8 on Friday but likely to improve with a clear forecast. Lee said a wet track “won’t worry him at all”. Glorious Moments will go for a spell after the run to prepare for the spring.
“He’ll handle any situation, we’re lucky that way,” he said. “The horse is a gladiator. He’s just a tough horse and he only knows one thing, winning.”
The Lees’ best horse was Hayai, which won the 1983 Caulfield Cup, two Metropolitans and the BMW. Greg said Glorious Moments would be “right up there” with their best since.
“He’s as good a horse as we’ve had for a very long time,” he said. “Keepin’ The Dream was a pretty good horse and we’ve had quite a few good ones, but he’d be better than them.”
Berry fined for misleading evidence
Racing NSW stewards hit jockey Tommy Berry with a $4000 fine on Friday for giving them misleading evidence about contact with disqualified trainer John O’Shea.
Berry pleaded guilty to the charge last week following an inquiry into his post-race comments at Warwick Farm on June 3, in which he said he had spoken to O’Shea that morning about tactics on Hovland.
On the day, stewards asked Berry if he had spoken to O’Shea that day, to which he replied: “I spoke to him three weeks ago to see how he was going”. Phone records showed he had called O’Shea that morning.
Asked if other calls to O’Shea had coincided with days he rode for that stable, he replied: “No.” Phone records showed they had. O’Shea finishes a four-month disqualification for improper conduct in two weeks.
Stewards considered whether Berry and O’Shea had breached terms of the disqualification by discussing racing matters but found there was insufficient evidence.
