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By Ray Hickson

The path was laid out for Tom Sherry from the moment he said ‘yes’. He just had to walk it.

It was an offer too good to refuse and one with a promise – not a guarantee – that if he fully committed he’d achieve a lot more than he planned when he landed in Australia in September 2018.

Sherry, now 22, came to Sydney from Dublin for a fresh start, to ride a bit of trackwork and see what happens but with no real plans to be a jockey.

Tom Sherry will claim the champion Sydney Apprentice Title for 2020-21 (Pic: Bradley Photos).

Everything changed when he met Mark Newnham. At the time the former jockey turned trainer already had a young Irish apprentice, Robbie Dolan, headed towards the first of two champion apprentice titles.

Almost two years later, come July 31, Sherry will have assumed Dolan’s crown.

“The first time I spoke to Mark he said if I wanted to be champion apprentice to come to his stable,’’ Sherry said.

“He said ‘you work as hard as you can and nothing will hold you back’.

“We did everything we could to follow the steps of how Robbie did it and I think we ticked most boxes. He’s done it two years in a row which is a massive achievement.”

In his first season under Newnham’s eye, and former top jockey Wayne Harris’s management, Sherry rode 95 winners. And he was a late starter too as he didn’t debut until early October in 2019.

By the end of the season he’d made his way to the city.

It didn’t matter to Newnham that some observers and every second punter, lapping up Sherry’s success in country and provincial centres, was calling for a swifter rise through the grades.

That wasn’t part of the plan but it led to Sherry carrying a fair amount of expectation when he did become a regular in the metro area.

“I think it all stemmed from Robbie Dolan, the success he’s had and me being another Irish apprentice with Mark,’’ he said.

“I had a massive season last year, in hindsight everybody knew the blueprint was there for where I was going to go.

“Mark was always telling me not to let it get to me but you get a lot of media and a lot of critics. You see the messages people send you, I think it might have got to me after a week or two of riding in town.

“I always strive to be better. The main goal and expectation was to win the apprentice premiership in town. I had high hopes to at least have ridden 50 winners this season and unfortunately I won’t be able to achieve that.”

Successive injuries, to the collar bone and then wrist, cost Sherry any chance of reaching that milestone and bettering last year’s total but as at the end of June he’d ridden 38 metropolitan winners for an unassailable lead in the apprentice jockeys premiership.

Sherry said while he’s disappointed his injuries meant he couldn’t give 50 city winners a nudge he can only describe the year as a runaway success both professionally and personally.

Aside from the city haul he also claimed his first Group race when the Newnham-trained Miravalle won the Group 3 Kembla Grange Classic in March. And he narrowly missed winning Sydney’s second richest race when Icebath ran second in the $7.5 million Golden Eagle in the spring.

“It’s been crazy. When I first came to Australia I had no intentions of being a jockey,’’ he said.

“Mark and Robbie haven’t just helped me be a good rider and a good jockey but ultimately a better person as well.

“I’m more focused, more dedicated, I don’t think I’ve ever worked as hard in my life as I did when I first went to Mark. I’m sure he’ll tell you that himself.”

Tom Sherry wins the G3 Kembla Grange Classic on Miravalle (Pic: Bradley Photos)

The backstory of Tom Sherry has been fairly well documented since he burst onto the scene.

He grew up in “not a very fancy area” of Dublin in a block of flats with his parents Eddie and Mary and sister Nadine. Before he went off to the racing academy at 16 he would drive a horse and carriage between the Guinness factory and Temple Bar in Dublin to earn money. About 20 Euro for the trip.

He rode his first winner at Dundalk but no sooner had his career started when he failed a drug test and was banned for four years, later reduced to 10 months allowing him to rebuild in Sydney with the support of partner Danika.

Of course it’s been quite some time since he’s seen his family but they’re never too far away – his mother is head cheerleader while his father tends to play backseat jockey.

“Mum doesn’t know a whole lot about it but she follows all my rides. She’s the first person to call,’’ he said.

“My father’s a huge racing fan and he’d call and tell me where I went right or wrong. He introduced me to the racing school and put me on the path.”

Newnham has already warned Sherry the path is about to get steeper as he embarks on a title defence in his final year as an apprentice with a decreasing claim and more competition in the junior ranks from the likes of Reece Jones and the latest Newnham protégé Tyler Schiller.

“As I keep saying to them, as their claim reduces, they have to ride better and eliminate the mistakes,’’ Newnham said.

“Without the injuries Tom’s had in the last couple of months he might have ridden 50 (city) winners which has been very hard to do for apprentices over the years.

“Robbie was able to win two in a row so we’ll see if Tom can do it.”

*This article originally appeared in the July 2021 edition of the Racing NSW magazine

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