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In a finish with the smallest of margins, Nature Strip held on to take the 2019 The Galaxy at Rosehill on Saturday.

Nature Strip drifted back to the fence and scored by a nose from the fast finishing Pierata.

Winning Trainer: Chris Waller

On his previous trainers: “Full credit to the teams, where he’s come from and where he is now, everyone’s had a go at training him. I probably get the accolade for winning the Group 1 with him but there’s been a lot of hard work go into him through the years so well done to all those trainers as well.”

On the ride: “Great work by James McDonald, he’s put a lot of time into the horse at home, on the training tracks and in his trials.”

On the horse: “He’s a lovely horse to train, we just have to get into his head on race day that the winning post is not at the 300m mark.

“From the wide draw and the wet track today there was a lot against us. He needed to be pretty tough and he was.”

On his Group 1 treble: “It’s pretty good isn’t it, especially when one of them is Winx. But full credit to all of them, it’s a great raceday. It’s one for the real special race days in the world, it’s a day for everyone to remember.”

Winning Jockey: James McDonald

On the horse: “The team has done an amazing job. From the first time I sat on him he felt like a really good sprinter. Things don’t really go his way and he makes it hard for himself. He sprung the gates really well and I just sat on him like a quiet church mouse. I thought the give in the ground would be to his assistance and it was.”

On the tight margin: “I feel for Tommy because I have been in that position before and it is gut wrenching. You put your heart and soul into these Group Ones and to come up short, I thought it was a dead heat, it probably deserved to be one, but it was a great race and he’s done it the tough way and won. They all can’t win like Winx so I’ll take winning by a nose.”

Beaten Jockeys:

Kerrin McEvoy (Redzel): “We copped a bit of a bump at the 600m which just put us off stride and wasn’t able to regain his ability to travel in that ground and get back into the race. He’s much better than that, he pulled up fine, push on to the TJ.”

Tommy Berry (Pierata): “Hard to cop, he ran really well. I knew there was plenty of improvement there from his first up run, he showed that even on the way to the gates. Great training effort by Greg [Hickman] to start him up in trip and drop him back today, because it wasn’t the plan to run him. He’ll obviously go to the TJ now and I guess it is a plus for him that it doesn’t matter how wet it is, he’ll be hard to beat. 1200m will also suit him better as well.”

James Winks (Jungle Edge): “He was there at the furlong, then dropped out.”

Brenton Avdulla (Graff): “Disappointing, he just struggled through the middle part of the race on that ground, I thought he was back in business around the corner, but he didn’t finish off.”

Kathy O'Hara (Kaepernick): “He ran well, just wasn’t suited by the going.”

Tim Clark (Viridine): “Just found the ground too heavy.”

Corey Brown (I Am Excited): “She actually worked home well the last 100m, but just couldn’t pick her feet up the first part of the race.”

Craig Williams (Encryption): “He just keeps raising the bar every time this horse, he didn’t love the ground, but he tried very hard, he’s in top form.”

Robbie Dolan (Easy Eddie): “He ran terrific, a big step up in grade today, he proved a lot of people wrong, he’s not far off a Group 1.”

Jay Ford (Tribal Wisdom): “I don’t think he went that bad, he failed in the ground terribly, but he feels a million dollars. He’s been off the scene a long time, so I wouldn’t judge him too harshly on that.”

Andrew Adkins (Baller): “Huge effort for him to run fifth, probably not the ideal position for him outside the lead, but he bounced well, landed there and travelled nicely.”