Ryan keen to find a diamond in the rough at Classic as he mixes training and trading
Blake Ryan wants to make it as a trainer and, ten months after launching his fledgling stable at Hawkesbury, the son of Group 1-winning horseman Gerald was pounding the pavement at Riverside Stables yesterday inspecting Inglis Classic yearlings he hopes could become his flag bearers.
While the Wallers, Waterhouses, Cummings’ and his father were at Randwick for the Inglis Millennium meeting, Ryan was at the Inglis complex casting his eye over the catalogue of 810 yearlings.
“As everyone does when they kick off, you inherit some horses that you’ve got to find a way to place them best and get the most out of them and, so far, we’ve had some nice results without setting the world on fire,” said Ryan.
“We’ve had six winners in our first ten months and they’ve been five different horses. Most of them are maideners, and whether they’ve got a Class 1 in them is another story.
“That’s why we’re here, we’re trying to replenish the stocks, turn them over and build the stable.
“In the end, that’s what we want to do. I want to make it as a trainer and to do that you need quality in your barn.”
Ryan hopes the legwork will provide him with the opportunity of regularly competing against his peers on the metropolitan stage but, for now, he utilised a quieter period at the sales complex when the focus was on the races to compile his shortlist.
For the past few years, Ryan has forged a reputation as a consignor of quality horses at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale and, at least for now, he plans to mix the training and trading of horses.
He ended up with three horses from the Magic Millions sale last month, an American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile) filly, a Bull Point (Fastnet Rock) colt and a son of Menari (Snitzel), a sprinter his father trained. The latter is likely to form part of his 2022 Inglis Ready2Race Sale draft.
Traders, in a surging market, are finding it increasingly difficult to source yearlings for the two-year-old sales as the juvenile segment is not rising at the same pace as the yearling sales have been.
“It is tough because you have got to leave a margin there for yourself, but you’ve also got to secure stock,” Ryan said.
“With averages up, it’s almost like $200,000 is the new $100,000, which makes it harder to buy for everyone, let alone those looking to trade.
“If the market holds up and stays this way, it doesn’t always translate to the ready to run sale later in the year, but at least if you’ve paid the money at the start for a nice quality animal, you’ve still got a nice quality animal in six months’ time. If they breeze well, the right ones will meet the market and make their money.”
As for Ryan’s likely approach to the Classic sale when selling starts at 10am today, he said: “There’s a couple of diamonds in the rough off the top tier, I think. It’s going to be strong at the top end and the right horses are going to bring their money, for sure, and there are enough of them here.”