Berry hopeful of Rosehill Guineas upset

Tuesday 19 March 2019, 5:47pm

Star jockey Tommy Berry is warming to the chances of dual New Zealand Group One winner Madison County causing an upset in the Rosehill Guineas against star colt The Autumn Sun.

Berry rode Madison County to fourth behind The Autumn Sun in the Group One Randwick Guineas (1600m) and is looking forward to the gelding stepping up to 2000m for the first time in Saturday's Group One race for three-year-olds.

Madison County won the Group One NZ 2000 Guineas (1600m) on a wet track and Berry believes testing ground on Saturday at Rosehill would give the Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained gelding his best chance to topple The Autumn Sun.

"I'm really excited about seeing him at the 2000 metres," Berry said.

"He felt like he was really strong through the line in the Randwick Guineas and I worked him this morning (Tuesday) and he was really strong at the end of his work and through the line.

"He worked on the course proper at Warwick Farm that felt like a heavy 10 and he never skipped a beat.

"A wet track might take away a bit of the brilliance from The Autumn Sun, which is what we need because if it was anything from a soft to better than that I think he is going to be very hard to beat."

The Chris Waller-trained The Autumn Sun has seven wins and an unlucky third from eight starts, with four victories at Group One level.

He is the $1.50 favourite for the Rosehill Guineas ahead of acceptances, with Madison County the only other horse at single figure odds at $8.

Despite The Autumn Sun stamping himself as a young star of Australian racing, Berry is certainly not discounting Madison County causing an upset.

"The Autumn Sun is not Winx," Berry said.

"He's not Winx yet, anyway.

"The way The Autumn Sun races, he leaves himself open to get beaten. He can get himself into some sticky positions and he's got to run incredible time more times than not to win.

"I think my bloke can settle a bit closer than he did last start and he's got a really good turn of foot on his day.

"I'm pretty optimistic. I think he will definitely get close to him and it would be nice to beat him."

– AAP

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