Tyler Schiller cleared of serious injury after Gundagai fall
Tyler Schiller Cleared Of Serious Injury
Tyler Schiller was lucky to escape relatively unscathed after his mount in the opening race at Gundagai’s cup meeting on Sunday started bucking shortly after they had jumped in the 1700m event.
The leading Sydney apprentice held on gamely before Come On Harry headed for the running rail, threw him into the 1600m sign and then crashed through the fence.
The three-year-old Counterattack gelding trained by Danielle Seib at Goulburn was examined after the incident and no abnormalities were found. The horse will have to trial to the satisfaction of stewards before being allowed to enter another race.
“I was trying to stay on him and when he didn’t want to stop at the rail, he just lined up with the sign perfectly,” Schiller said on Monday.
“But it looked a lot worse than it was, it didn’t really hurt that much.
“When I hit the sign, it sliced my arm and I have just got a bit of a black eye but that’s about it.”
Schiller was cleared of serious injury at Wagga Base Hospital but was forced to forfeit his rides at Hawkesbury on Tuesday. He intends to chase clearance to ride at Canterbury’s Wednesday meeting where he has three rides booked.
“I’ve got a few rides on Wednesday that I want to take,” Schiller said.
“I am feeling alright, a little bit muscle sore but fingers crossed I will be good to go on Wednesday otherwise I will just have to wait until Saturday.”
Schiller is booked to ride the Joseph Pride-trained Kaapfever in the $2 million Sydney Cup (3200m) on day two of The Championships this Saturday at Randwick.
Kaapfever finished 10th in the Group 2 Chairman’s Quality (2600m) on day one of The Championships with Schiller aboard.
“I thought it was a really good run,” Schiller said.
“He was a lot more positive than he has been before, usually he is in the back half of the field.
“I think going up an extra 600m will suit him well and hopefully the track is still wet.”
Four starts back the horse won the Listed Inglis Australia Day Cup (2400) on January 26 and is currently $101 with Bet365 for Saturdays Sydney Cup.
2022 Gundagai Cup Review
Later in the day, the trip up from Wangaratta was worth it when the Craig Weeding-trained Prince of Helena ($2.60F) put on a galloping display to claim the $34,000 XXXX Gold Gundagai Cup (1700m) by just over 4 lengths.
Settled comfortably off the pace by Jake Duffy, the five-year-old Sidestep gelding exploded down the straight with no one able to challenge him.
“Country Cups are always brilliant to get,” Weeding said.
“They are held in high esteem in the community, and it is another one on the mantlepiece.
“We thought he was going to run a really nice race,
“I was a little worried about the barrier and where he would get to in the run, but Jake took that out of the equation and rode him beautifully by putting him in a nice position early in a race.
“Jake does almost all of his fast work and he has ridden him a lot at his early starts and he knows the horse quite well.”
Prince of Helena is now guaranteed a start in next month’s $200,000 Wagga Gold Cup, and Weeding believed his galloper would handle the step up to 2000m, having already pencilled in potential races between now and the May 6 feature at Murrumbidgee Turf Club.
Duffy also hopes to keep the ride ahead of next month’s Wagga Gold Cup.
“This will qualify him for the Wagga Cup, so it will be interesting to see if he gets the 2000m, which I think he will,” Duffy said.
“I haven’t ridden very light for a while, but he might be the motivation (I need) to get back riding a bit light again, because obviously he will get the minimum in the Wagga Cup.
“Hopefully I can ride him there and pretty much continue a good run with the horse.
“He was still having a good look about and he was running away from them, so I think that is a sign he is a pretty nice horse,” Duffy said.
“Although it was only a Gundagai Cup, I honestly reckon there was a fair bit of depth to that race today and for him to put pay to them like that, for a horse that hasn’t had a lot of racing and is still pretty new to the game, it’s a good sign,” Duffy said.
Prince Of Helena has now had 19 starts for five wins and ten placings with more improvement to come from Sundays race.