Grima grateful for helping hand in chase for first group race win

Champion apprentice Siena Grima is grateful to have jockey Adam Hyeronimus in her corner as she prepares for an exciting chance to score a first stakes-level win with I’m Ya Huckleberry on Saturday at Rosehill.

Grima enjoyed a rapid rise to the Sydney apprentices’ title last season after moving from Tamworth in December to join Chris Waller, but she has been handed her greatest opportunity yet by one the premier trainer’s greatest rivals, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, in the group 3 Ming Dynasty Quality (1400m).

I’m Ya Huckleberry ($4.60) was battling for favouritism in the three-year-old feature after returning from an injury lay-off with an easy victory in a Wyong maiden on August 30 with Hyeronimus aboard. It was the $400,000 Home Affairs colt’s first race since finishing runner-up 11 months earlier in the group 3 Breeders’ Plate on debut.

With I’m Ya Huckleberry carrying 53.5 kilograms, connections had to find a new jockey for Saturday and Grima was thankful for the chance.

“I’ve had only one ride for Gai and it won, so that was nice and hopefully we go two for two,” Grima said of her Canterbury victory with Think I Will in June.

“Adam said to me that he couldn’t get his weight, and I know the owners and they’re lovely people, so I think that connection really helped. I feel very privileged to be able to get on a horse like him in such a nice race.

“I’ve had a ride in a group race for Gary Portelli and she ran midfield, and then I’ve had a couple of listed rides, but they’ve finished towards the tail, so this would be my first one that’s a really good chance.

“I definitely think the lightweight really brings him into it. He’s obviously very sharp out of the gates, really nice trials, and then a beautiful first-up run where he looked like he was really finishing off quite nicely, so I definitely think he’s ready to go.”

Bott hopes I’m Ya Huckleberry can race forward from gate seven of 12 and push his claims for a start in the group 1 Golden Rose (1400m) in two weeks, and Grima was confident she could help him get the job done.

“I know he has a few issues with the barriers, so I’d rather him be out there,” she said of the draw.

“And the 1400-metre run, it’ll be a nice jump come across to where he’s happy and just take his time to blossom.

“Unfortunately, I won’t get a chance to sit on him before, but I’ll just have a talk to Adam. He knows him like the back of his hand, and he’s been really great to me.

“When I do ride on pace, which isn’t very often, if he has any advice, he’s more than happy to call me out of the room. When I had that winner for Gai, he called me out and told me I did a really great job.”

Grima also has a group race ride on God’s Window ($19) for her boss in the Theo Marks Stakes (1300m).

“It’s obviously a lot short of his best, but first up, he always runs a really good race,” she said.

“Last prep, first up over 1400, he ran fourth, and then come out and run some really nice races, so I wouldn’t write him off.”

Bott, who also has Savagram ($7.50) in the Ming Dynasty, believes I’m Ya Huckleberry will appreciate the rise to 1400m and a lighter weight than he would have carried in the group 2 Run To The Rose (1200m).

“He’s got the potential there, but he is still lightly raced and he’s still a bit of a big kid,” Bott said.

“He’s got that natural speed and being able to sustain that over 1400, 1600 metres, as opposed to 1200, is going to be what hopefully separates him when we can get to a good level.”

He said Savagram, fourth behind stablemate Plagiarism in the Up And Coming Stakes (1300m) at his second start, was on a likely path to the Spring Champion Stakes (2000m).

“He still just did a few things wrong,” he said of last start.

“He had the right run in the race to try and capitalise on it, but just inexperience showed.”

The stable has Plagiarism and Revengeance as $19 hopes in the Run To The Rose. Bott felt Plagiarism was primed for the 1200m.

“We felt that he was pretty conditioned for a tougher race like that, having two runs over the 1300 metres,” he said.

“It’s the main lead up to the Golden Rose. He certainly put himself in contention there off his last start, so I wanted to give him that chance.

Like I’m Ya Huckleberry, Golden Gift winner Revengeance is second up off a long injury break. He was seventh behind Guest House’s track-record 1100m win in the San Domenico.

“We were willing to be very forgiving,” he said of the return.

“He had a long layoff and found himself just having to do a little bit more work than anticipated.

“Up to 1200 will help, he’ll be fitter for it. I still don’t think it’s necessarily the right race just yet, but it’s the right stepping stones. If we need to readjust after this, we can, but at this stage he is on the path for a Golden Rose.”

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