Flat Stable Tour 2021: Kevin Ryan
The Hambleton trainer talks through his team for the 2021 summer campaign including a strong team of star sprinters.
WATCH: Kevin Ryan Stable Tour 2021
BABY ALYA
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She got shuffled right the way back through the field at Newmarket. They were all making a beeline for the far rail and she got no run at all. She’s going to learn an awful lot from that – it was her first run on grass. She’s a filly we’ve always liked, so I think we’ll have great fun with her.
BELLISSIME
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She ran a lovely race at Newmarket. We were torn between running her at York or Newmarket and it looks now like a mile is probably her trip. I think she got a little bit stuck in the ground going down into the Dip, but when she hit the rising ground – which is probably a bit better ground – she really came home well. She’s a lovely filly.
BIELSA
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I was delighted with him at York. They went pretty hard, the fractions were strong from the start, and he picked up well before getting a little bit tired. It was definitely a big step forward and hopefully we can get him in the Wokingham. I’m not sure whether he’ll get in from his mark at the moment, but we’ll try to find a little race for him that he can boss and get his head back in front.
BRANDO
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He always has a bleed once a year, whether it’s at home or at the races. Unfortunately, he burst a blood vessel at York. He was running a great race, he came into it very strongly and looked like he was going to get involved. It was unfortunate but he’s in great form.
CAIRN ISLAND
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He was due to run at York but, unfortunately, he sprained a joint. I was looking forward to going back there, the ground was right for him and the track was right for him, obviously he won there last year. It was unfortunate that we had to miss it, but I was delighted with his run at Newmarket and I’m sure he can build on that.
DEXTER BELLE
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The owners love having runners at York and I thought it was worth taking a chance in the listed race over five furlongs. I was hoping the ground would be softer to make it a bit more of a test over five than it was, but she nicked third place and got black type, so it’s done no harm. She came out of it well and we’ll step back up to six furlongs now. She’s still a very talented filly.
EMARAATY ANA
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The ground went against him at York, he likes top of the ground. He ran in softish ground as a two-year-old and didn’t like it. I just took a chance to see whether he would go better on it now that he’s a bit older. He’d run three solid races previous to that. We’ll get him back on some nicer ground and he’s in at Royal Ascot. It’s a big ask, so we might take a softer route – we’ll see nearer the time.
FIGHTER PILOT
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I was disappointed with him at York. I think he’s a six-furlong horse and we obviously dropped him back there. They went very hard and I just think he was on his head straight from the gates. We’ll step him back up to six furlongs now and that was just a mistake on my behalf running him there.
GLASS SLIPPERS
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She’s not going to run in the Temple Stakes. We missed a piece of work with her and the ground is quite testing at the moment. The way the forecast is this week, we just thought we’d wait and go straight to Royal Ascot. We’ve no real need to give her a run. It would have been nice, but we didn’t want to run her on very tacky ground.
She just backed off her food for a couple of days and we missed that piece of work at a vital time. We’ll probably give her a racecourse gallop before Ascot.
We’d be looking to follow a similar campaign to last year, although we do have the alternative of going six furlongs with her as well. We might step up to six for the Sprint Cup at Haydock and we’ll probably take in the Champions Sprint at Ascot at the backend. We’ve got options and she’s in both races at Royal Ascot, the King’s Stand and the Diamond Jubilee.
I don’t think we’ll go to the Breeders’ Cup this year. We’d be taking on the American horses over five furlongs. She’s not really an out-and-out five-furlong horse – she’s probably going to be better over six. I don’t think she’d have won it over five last year, she really needed the extra half-furlong to get into top gear. She’s been there once and done it, so we can go a different route.
HEY JONESY
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All roads lead to the Wokingham again. He was running shocking before the Wokingham last year, even in the Buckingham Palace (four days before the Wokingham) he put up no show. He’d lost hardly any weight, so I thought I’d put the blinkers on him because he hadn’t put much work in. He went and won the Wokingham, so we may as well go back and try again, but we’re not going to torture the horse if he’s going to keep running like that. If he really has fallen out with the game, we’ll be pulling the plug sooner rather than later.
HUBOOR
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She ran a big race on her debut for us at Kempton. We put the blinkers on her last time, but she didn’t face them at all, so you can just draw a line through that run. She’s a grand, genuine filly and I’m sure she’ll be winning races shortly.
JUAN ELCANO
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He shaped a bit better than the bare result at Doncaster. He hit a flat spot and then stayed on again. We’ve given him a wind operation, we just felt that was possibly stopping him a little bit. He’s still hugely talented and, if we’ve found the problem and righted it, he could come back to be a very good horse.
LAST EMPIRE
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She ran a very good race at Nottingham, she was drawn out on a limb and gave a lot of weight away. It’s vital for her to have this soft ground. We’ll see how she is, and we made the entry in the listed race at Haydock on Friday so that she has the option.
MAGICAL SPIRIT
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He was terribly disappointing at York, he was never at the races. I don’t really know why, so we’ll investigate things a little bit further. He might be a horse who comes back to himself in the second half of the season. He won the Silver Cup at Ayr last year and, when they show that sort of form late in the year, they tend to do it again.
MAJOR JUMBO
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I think he might be fooling us a little bit. He went to Newbury on a good mark and on ground that he loves, and we took another half a stone off him with John Shinnick, a good 7lb claimer who is here with us. I thought he would take all the beating and he looked at halfway like he was going to take all the beating, but then he dropped away quite tamely. I’m wondering whether he’s just gone a little bit cute on us. We’re going to investigate a little bit, but I’ve got a funny feeling that he might just need a pair of blinkers on him.
QUEEN JO JO
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She finished down the field at York, but she can run like that. We’ll find something a little bit easier for her next. She is a Group 3 winner already and has plenty of options going forward. I’m sure she’s going to pick up a nice race along the way.
RATHBONE
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He won at long last at Thirsk on Saturday. He’s been terribly disappointing for a horse who works as well as he does in the mornings, he just doesn’t turn up in the afternoons. I told Megan (Nicholls) just to do as she wanted, she jumped him out well and nobody was wanting to go on, so they got a solo up front. It was like riding a piece of work, and he probably got to the line without knowing he was in a race. Hopefully that will give him some confidence and he can go on and produce again. We know he’s got the ability, it’s just getting the consistency.
REPARTEE
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He’s had a little wind operation, I just felt he wasn’t finishing his races. It’s a very simple operation, just a cauterisation of his soft palate. Hopefully that does the trick.
STARS IN THE NIGHT
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She’s had a little break and we’re training her for the listed fillies’ race up at Ayr during Royal Ascot. She deserves a chance at a race like that now, she’s three from three this season. It would be massive if we could get a bit of black type with her.
THRONE HALL
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He’s a horse we’ve always thought a lot of and I thought he ran a great race at York. There’s a chance he could get further, he galloped right through the line. He could get a mile and six furlongs and, if that was the case, he might turn into a Sky Bet Ebor horse. I think he’s a horse who is going to progress as the year goes on.
UNCLE JUMBO
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He was unlucky at Pontefract and then I don’t think he really handled the track at Chester as well as we thought he might. He’s a winner waiting to happen.
Two-year-olds
ALEEZDANCER
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The soft ground at Beverley suited him – most of the Fast Company’s I’ve had loved soft ground. I can’t fault him, he was very green first-time-out and then he’s done it very easily on his last start. We’ll have to see what comes out of the race from behind him, but he’s going to win races. At what level, he’ll take us there himself.
ATOMIC FORCE
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He had a little bit of a break, he just looked a little bit weak. He’s back in full training now and has done well for it. He’s a winner waiting to happen.
BOONIE
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He’s ready to run, but he’s by Brazen Beau and they tend to want top of the ground. There’s a chance he might go to the National Stakes at Sandown en route to Royal Ascot. We’re very happy with him.
MAS PODER
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She ran a huge race on her debut at York. It was a strong renewal of the race and she got stopped twice, so you can probably mark her run up. She’s a lovely filly and we’ll look forward to her going forward.
MELAYU KINGDOM
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He’s probably going to step up to six furlongs now. We’ll get another bit of experience into him and he’s probably another one on the list we’ll be aiming at Royal Ascot if we think that’s the right thing to do with him.
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