Latest news with #InglisAustralianEasterYearlingSale
News.com.au
05-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Kembla Grange preview: Ryan chasing a fruitful day on Tuesday
TRAINER Blake Ryan has ambitions of Midways and maybe more with the stable's lightly-raced three-year-old Strawberry Impact which, all things being equal, could have had a hat-trick ahead of Tuesday's Kembla mission. Ryan's gelding has put together an impressive resume in a short time, winning his maiden (at Kembla) in convincing fashion. He followed that up with a closing second in a 1400m Benchmark 64 at Newcastle five weeks later when beaten by the racing's barest possible margin. FIELDS AND FORM KEMBLA ON TUESDAY 'He's had a long first preparation, a couple of his runs have been spaced, and he is still eating and is happy and bright so we'll go to the races again with him,'' Ryan said. 'Looking at his run the other day, it looks like he wants a mile, even further. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! 'The one thing I do like about him - I get a sectional report for every runner - and every start he's had, he's been the fastest last furlong in the race so it shows he is going through the line. 'He should get further off that alone. 'He's drawn well again, Chad (Lever) rides him really well so if the same horse turns up that has been going to the races, he's going to be competitive,'' said Ryan. 'I was happy to go to a Benchmark 68 on Tuesday because I basically treated him like he won the other day, because it was a half a bob, and that's where he would have gone anyway but this way, he just hasn't got the full (weight) penalty.' Strawberry Impact was sold for $100,000 at the 2023 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. The Lime Country bred (then) colt was one of 116 foals that made up the first crop of Yulong Stud resident stallion, Pierata. Strawberry Impact was also the first foal of his dam, Girandola. An unraced daughter of Medaglia D'oro, Girandola, is a half-sister to Co-Champion 2YO Colt in Australian, Invader, as well as the Hong Kong star sprinter Not Listenin'tome. 'If he wins on Tuesday and pulls up well like can go again, he will go to the Midway on Scone stand-alone day,'' Ryan said. 'The owner is happy for me to actually have a throw at the stumps if he is going well when the right race comes along so I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up in a decent race sooner or later. Jockey Chad Lever 'He's a nice horse, he is one of my better ones anyway.' Strawberry Impact will have company on the float from Hawkesbury to Kembla on Tuesday from a relatively new stablemate named All Black which runs out in the last race on the card. The Blueblood Thoroughbreds owned son of Snitzel never got a crack at his Ryan-stable debut at Wyong last month finishing a misleading ninth of 11. 'It's hard because he wasn't fully tested the other day,' Ryan said. 'He didn't even get a tap around the bum. I would have loved to have been able to see him get that and then at least you'd know where he actually sat. 'I think the soft tracks does help him a lot. 'The one thing different we have been able to do, which is why he was sent to me by Bluebloods, Nathan (Doyle) just said he wasn't really coping with stable life at Newcastle so we train him out of a yard here. 'He is outside all the time and he's happy and we don't annoy him too much.' Originally published as Kembla Grange preview: Ryan chasing a fruitful day on Tuesday
News.com.au
04-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Trainer Matt Dunn was surprised when Lubrication upset the big guns to win the $1m The Archer slot race in Rockhampton
Trainer Matt Dunn admitted even he was surprised when his 'Class 3' gelding Lubrication upset the big guns to land the $565,000 winner's cheque with a convincing victory in the $1 million The Archer slot race in Rockhampton on Sunday. With jockey Jake Bayliss on board, Lubrication ($18) came from a fair way back to beat a batch of classy southern raiders, including Bjorn Baker's star pair Sandpaper and Iowna Merc, to finish ahead of the Tony Gollan-trained Comrade Rosa ($11) and Transatlantic ($5) in the 1300m race. 'He's racing better now than he ever has in his life,' Murwillumbah trainer Dunn said after the upset victory for slot holder Max Whitby, the ex-Sydney racing identity who now lives on the Gold Coast. 'It was a proper win. To be honest I'm a little bit surprised, in a happy way. 'It was very exciting, unexpected and one of those thrills that come up every now and then.' The bookmakers clearly didn't rate five-year-old Lubrication, which was paying up to $40 early last week, following his last-start third in a Class 3 1400m race at Eagle Farm on April 19. 'Even when he got beat the other day (at Eagle Farm), Max was at the races and he said 'I want him for my slot' and I said 'sweet, no worries',' Dunn said. 'He's a Class 3 horse but I'm happy to go to a set weights plus penalties race, and take them on for that sort of money.' Lubrication wins the Archer at double figure odds for @mattydunnracing with @jakebayliss94 in the saddle! ðŸ'� Whitby Bloodstock nails it with their slot runner! ðŸ'° — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 4, 2025 Dunn was too busy preparing his horses for the Queensland Winter Carnival to be in Rockhampton but he joked his stable representative Wayne Wheatley would do the hard celebrating for him. 'I would've loved to have gone but I've just got too much on here. Not too many celebrations but I'm sure my man up there (Wheatley) will be celebrating hard,' Dunn said. 'The horse is coming home at 6.30am and he's on an 8am flight so I hope they both make it.' Three-time Group 1 winner Bayliss was held up at various stages throughout the race but when a split opened up, Lubrication surged to the line and never looked like losing it from there. Both Dunn and Whitby are the major owners of Lubrication, who was bought for $400,000 at the 2021 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. Dunn had every intention of spelling Lubrication but he might be having second thoughts given the gelding is in 'career-best form'. 'He's got a few miles under his belt,' Dunn said. 'The idea was to give him a break but he's racing so well and he looks so good. 'He beat some decent horses there and beat them fair and square. 'Who knows where he ends up? Maybe races like the Glasshouse Handicap (over 1400m on the Sunshine Coast on July 5). 'It depends what they do with him regarding his rating. It's always difficult to stick horses in the paddock when they're racing in career-best form.' Meanwhile, Rob Heathcote has confirmed that 25-time Group 1 winning rider Tim Clark will partner Rothfire in the $1.5 million Doomben 10,000 (1200m) major on May 17. The 2020 JJ Atkins winner Rothfire will push on to the Doomben 10,000 after an impressive fourth in Saturday's Group 2 Victory Stakes at Eagle Farm in his first race since late December when he finished fourth in The Buffering, won by Transatlantic.
