Flying Ryan & Alexiou have a day out at Eagle Farm
Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou had a day to remember at Eagle Farm on Saturday, training three winners from three starters.
The Rosehill-based stable embarked on a three-pronged attack at Brisbane racing Headquarters, with Green Shadows, Reggiewood and Flying Crazy all winning in style.
Kicking things off in the first race – a Two-Year-Old Handicap (1400m) – Ryan & Alexiou saddled up their unbeaten colt Green Shadows, who made a mess of his rivals despite being held up for room approaching the furlong marker under James Orman.
Once the son of Menari saw clear air though, he shot the gap and put up a one and a half length margin and justifying some good late market support.
Members’ Cocktail Night 2yo Handicap (1400m) – Green Shadows Remains Undefeated
The colt is likely to be a stalwart of the Queensland Winter Carnival over the coming weeks, with the Group 1 J.J. Atkins (1600m) likely to be his target race in June.
Reggiewood made it a winning double for the stable in race two, saluting by 3.25 lengths in an 1815m Benchmark 85 Handicap under Kyle Wilson-Taylor, before jockey Brad Stewart gave himself and the stable a winning treble in the first of two Listed features aboard Flying Crazy.
“We probably bought the right horses up today looking for dry tracks, and the right races were here – I was struggling to find races for them,” Ryan told the Brisbane Racing Club.
After jumping fairly from the outside alley, Stewart took the Canberra Guineas winner back to last for the 1400m event, before coming to the outside of the field of 12 and sprinting quickly in the straight.
The son of Flying Artie moved up alongside the easy Green Belt and kicked away to win by one and a quarter lengths on the line.
Sky Racing Bm85 Handicap (1815m) – Reggiewood
Ryan said that the three-year-old will head back to Sydney, before returning to Queensland in a fortnight for the Queensland Guineas (1600m), where a rematch with Green Belt beckons.
“I was really confident coming to the races today that the three horses would run super – not that I thought that the three of them would win, but that’s happened – but this horse (Flying Crazy) that’s just won the Daybreak Lover, we’ve always had a real good opinion of him,” the co-trainer said.
“He’s perhaps well named – Flying Crazy, he can be crazy at times – but he’s going good and it’s the way to ride him; give him a chance, leave him settle, find his feet and get home.
“When you come up here, who better to go to than Brad Stewart? We had a lot of luck with Brad years and years ago. He was good, I said to him, ‘don’t kick him out of the barriers and ride your race from there’ and that’s exactly what he done.”
Flying Crazy will return for the Guineas in a fortnight, while he could be joined by stablemates Ellsberg and Banana Queen, who have Group 1 targets in mind.
Ellsberg is likely to head to Brisbane for a shot at the Stradbroke Handicap (1400m), while three-year-old filly Banana Queen is going to be set for the Queensland Oaks (2200m), with that filly looking for firmer tracks.
Ellsberg, who finished third in Saturday’s Group 1 All Aged Stakes (1400m) at Randwick, is currently a $13 chance for the Stradbroke with online bookmakers.