“The break has done me the world of good mentally. It’s probably the first break I’ve had in four years,” he said.
“It’s not the circumstances you want, but I made the most of my time off. I’m feeling good and riding well. I was champion apprentice with Mark Newnham, but when Mark went to Hong Kong, it just took me a little bit of time to find a new base.
“Peter [Snowden] has given me plenty of opportunities, so riding plenty of winners for him and winning the group 1 has just made connections a bit easier. Obviously, the Archibalds [Annabel and Rob] have been fantastic to me as well and it’s just a lot of trainers giving me a lot of support.
“It’s just about a bit of consistency now. It’s important, especially riding in Sydney, you need a good base and I think I’ve found that now.”
His recent success included a treble at Rosehill on November 8 highlighted by victory on long-shot Artic Glamour in the group 2 Hot Danish Stakes (1400m). He is aboard the Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou-trained mare in the group 3 Festival Stakes (1500m) on Saturday but the $9 (TAB) chance has to contend with a draw in 19.
“We have a really sticky barrier, which doesn’t make it easy, but she showed good gate speed last start and she’s going to have to show it again to get across,” Sherry said.
He was to ride Zealously in The Warra last Saturday at Kembla, but Snowden scratched him because of the heavy track. Sherry was already booked for Richard Litt-trained Romeo’s Choice ($19) in Saturday’s listed Starlight Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill, which now features Zealously ($4).
“I think the draw is definitely beneficial to Romeo’s Choice,” Sherry said of gate four.
“Zealously is going really well, he’s the horse to beat in the race, but from the barrier, at least we’ll get the run of the race and hopefully be a bit stronger late.
“He can sit off them. He’s got a high cruising speed, but his asset is he’s quite strong when you go for him. He’ll run well.”
He partners Redstone Well ($19), third in the Rosehill Cup, for the Archibalds in the listed ATC Cup.
“He’s a tricky horse to catch, but when things go right for him and he can control it, when it’s not a sit and sprint,” he said.
“He’s more of a one-pace horse, but he can maintain a high cruising speed, which gets a lot of them off the bridle over that trip.”
He also hopes to extend the streaks of Maid Of Moolah (race 10) and Luskaire (four), which have won three and four on the bounce respectively.
