Ryan & Alexiou plan Hawkesbury assault
After a successful week at Eagle Farm on April 16, Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou will be looking to repeat the dose this weekend at Hawkesbury.
The Rosehill-based training partnership have nominated six horses for Hawkesbury’s standalone Saturday metropolitan meeting, including Flying Crazy and promising two-year-olds Green Shadows and Master Showman.
Both Flying Crazy and Green Shadows were successful in their Queensland runs a little over a week ago, so the stable is hoping they can continue on their winning ways, before they are likely to return to the Sunshine State next month.
Co-trainer Sterling Alexiou told HorseBetting that it was rewarding to see their team reap the benefits of a trip away and that he now hopes that run of form can continue in their home state.
Green Shadows, an unbeaten son of Menari, is set to join stablemate Master Showman in the Clarendon Stakes (1400m) on Saturday, while Flying Crazy will look to add a Hawkesbury Guineas win to his Canberra Guineas and Daybreak Love successes.
“He (Green Shadows) came through his trip up there, his race and trip home surprisingly well,” the co-trainer said.
“If he happened to win on Saturday, we’d probably look at the (BRC) Sires’ (Produce Stakes) and then just see where he sits there and whether we go on to a possible J.J. Atkins up there.”
While Green Shadows has won his two career starts to date, stablemate Master Showman is “still learning his craft”, despite a stylish all-the-way win at Hawkesbury on April 13.
The son of Snitzel is a full brother to Golden Rose winner Trapeze Artist, and that is where Alexiou is hoping he can get to in the spring.
“He’s still learning his craft a bit,” Alexiou said.
“He still just wants to do a bit wrong and wobble around, but what we saw in his last win goes somewhere close to seeing the true ability of the horse. I don’t think he’s far away from our top two-year-old – it’s just a matter of him putting it together and he’s still a horse that’s still maturing and developing.
“I think he’s a horse that’s probably going to go right on with it in the spring, but he’s come through his win at Hawkesbury well, I think the step up to 1400m will suit and I think he’ll run really well. I don’t think there’s much between them.”
Master Showman looks unlikely to accompany Green Shadows in Queensland after Saturday given his rather long preparation, but the stable doesn’t want to rule it out should he “jump out of the ground” on Saturday.
“He’s probably more of a horse for a Golden Rose or Caulfield Guineas,” he continued.
One horse who will be joining Green Shadows back up in Queensland is three-year-old son of Flying Artie, Flying Crazy.
Coming off his last-start win in the Listed Daybreak Lover at Eagle Farm, the stable opted to avoid the mile of this Saturday’s Queensland Guineas at Eagle Farm again, and instead keep him at seven furlongs.
Having now won over $240,000 in prizemoney, the highly-promising galloper will be following a similar path to what we have seen the last three Hawkesbury Guineas winners do.
Military Zone, Dawn Passage and Exoboom all raced in the Group 3 Fred Best Classic at their subsequent starts in Brisbane following their win at Hawkesbury, and that is the same path that Alexiou plans to take with Flying Crazy, where a win would secure the horse a start in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap the following week.
“There’s enough races around here to not worry about having to stretch him to a mile,” the co-trainer said.
“That’s not to say he won’t get a mile in time, but we agreed with him to keep him to the seven (furlongs) here. After Saturday, he will probably head up for a Fred Best.
“I think he’s a horse that’s realistically 12 months away from a race like a Stradbroke. I think he’s got a lot of racing to get under his belt before he’d be capable at that level – he’s got the ability, but he’s still doesn’t execute all the time.”
Flying Crazy sits on the third line of betting with online bookmakers for the Hawkesbury Guineas at $7, while early markets have not yet been released for the Clarendon.
Final fields for Saturday’s Hawkesbury meeting will be released by midday Wednesday.