Ryan cancels Red alert
GERALD Ryan had thought he had pulled off the unthinkable for a brief moment a fortnight ago but that doesn’t mean he thinks Red Excitement can knock off Winx in the George Main Stakes at Randwick on Saturday.
Red Excitement gave Winx a scare in the Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) a fortnight ago when he led and kicked away on the turn by six lengths.
It took Winx until the last 50m to reel Red Excitement in and Ryan admits he thought his horse was going to hold on for a brief second.
“I thought she had picked up ground well but just prior to the 200m mark I thought from the 300m to the 200m she should have made up more ground,” the trainer said.
“At the 200m mark I thought we had pinched it but then she got into her gears and she hit overdrive.”
Winx drew barrier one yesterday for the George Main Stakes (1600m) and will face seven rivals in her first Group 1 assignment of the spring.
Red Excitement will be among her rivals again but Ryan is philosophical about his horse’s chances of ending Winx’s 19-long winning streak.
“She is a machine and I can’t see any of those horses beating her,” he said.
Asked how he would have felt if he had defeated Winx last start, Ryan admits he would have had mixed emotions. “One part of me would have been happy and the other part of me would have been disappointed (for racing itself),” Ryan said.
Some punters are questioning whether Winx is going as well this spring after she has had to overcome challenges to win her first two starts this campaign.
But Ryan, an astute form judge as well as a trainer, insists she is.
“I think she is going as well as previous preps and her sectional times are too good to say she is not,” he said.
“No horse in Australia, except Winx could have caught (Red Excitement in the Chelmsford Stakes).
“People say he is a Listed or Group 3 horse and all that but we’ve never ran him in these races. Saturday is the first time he is going to run in a Group 1 and he has never run in these races to get a line and perhaps we should have done it earlier.”
Ryan said a decision on whether Red Excitement would try to roll along in front again all depended on what noted leader Ecuador did.
“You have Ecuador in the race this time and it just depends how he jumps and what they want to do,” he said.
Winx was a $1.09 favourite with UBET last night to extend her winning streak to 20 on Saturday. Happy Clapper ($14), Foxplay ($16) and Red Excitement ($26) were next.