Ryan keen for Dumpling to steam forward again and show stakes class

Rosehill trainer Gerald Ryan is excited about his team’s spring prospects, mostly in three-year-old features.

On Saturday at Randwick, he hopes Diddle Dumpling can step up again and show she has the class to be a contender in four-year-old races.

Diddle Dumpling salutes at Rosehill earlier this month.Credit: Getty Images

The Deep Field filly will aim for three wins on the bounce when she contests race four, a 1300m benchmark 72 handicap for three-year-olds, on the last Saturday of the 2024-25 season.

The race is identical to the one she won last start, on July 5 at Rosehill, and she carries the same weight, 56 kilograms, thanks to the claim of apprentice Will Stanley.

First-up this preparation, Diddle Dumpling went forward under jockey Nash Rawiller in a 1200m benchmark 64 at Gosford and ran her rivals off their feet. She repeated the tactic for Tim Clark from a wide gate at Rosehill for a one-length win and Ryan hoped she could do it again from gate nine of nine on Saturday.

“It’s probably a tad harder compared to what she was against last time,” Ryan said of the $6.50 Sportsbet chance. “But she’s always promised a lot and is only just starting to deliver.

Rosehill trainer Gerald Ryan has high hopes for the upcoming spring campaign.Credit: Getty Images

“She’s a nice filly and we’re happy with her. She’s done well since her last start. [Stanley] seems to be going good. I’ve watched him a bit over the last month and he seems to be rating leaders all right. She’ll roll forward and as long as he can rate her right, she’ll run well.”

The John Singleton-owned filly had one win from 11 starts before this preparation, but those runs included three unplaced efforts at stakes level, including fifths in the group 2 Sweet Embrace and Percy Sykes.

Ryan hoped to test the waters again.

“We always thought she had stakes ability and that’s why she had runs in some of those races,” he said. “With her pedigree and what she’s shown, we’d like to chase a bit of black type with her, so we’ll just progress and see how she goes on Saturday.

“We’ve got to get her rating up a bit so we can get her into those races. She’s certainly got the ability and is capable of winning one. It will be 1100 or whether you go to 1400 with her. We’ll just let her tell the tale on Saturday.”

Ryan has Green Shadows ($7.50) in the fifth, a benchmark 88 over 1600m. Green Shadows was fifth in the same grade over 1400m at Randwick last start and is chasing a first win in 11 months.

“The other day he got squeezed out of the gate and he was one pair further back than you would like to be, but he finished the race all right,” Ryan said.

Silentsar ($14) and High Blue Sea ($19) are in the seventh, a benchmark 78 over 1300m.

“It’s a tough race and he’s up in class, but he does drop six kilos,” he said of Silentsar. “The other horse just needs firm ground, and he probably needed the run the other day. He loomed to win about the 300m mark and just ran out of puff, and he’s improved off it.”

Ryan, meanwhile, was looking to the spring with confidence about his strong crop of two-year-olds from this season.

King Of Pop and Skyhook won their way into the Golden Slipper, while Blitzburg claimed the Canonbury Stakes and Grand Eagle peeled off two wins.

“I’m quite excited about King Of Pop, Skyhook, Sanctified and Grand Eagle,” he said. “They appear to be coming up quite well. They had a jump-out on Tuesday morning and went really well on the course proper.

“Blitzburg will run in the Rosebud. King Of Pop in the San Domenico, Skyhook the Rosebud or San Domenico. All trial next Tuesday at Rosehill. Grand Eagle is a fortnight behind them so he’ll probably go to a benchmark race before heading to something better.”

Hoysted hopes filly can deliver breakthrough Sydney win

Eagle Farm trainer Matt Hoysted hopes the trip to Randwick this week can be the making of promising filly Break Free, and give him a first NSW city winner in the process.

Hoysted, about to enter his second season as a solo trainer, is sending Break Free and Termagant to Randwick after last-start efforts at Eagle Farm on June 28, and it will be the first Sydney runs for the Proven Thoroughbreds pair.

Matt Hoysted leads out Uncommon James for a track gallop with Damian Lane in the saddle.Credit: Getty

Break Free, a three-year-old Capitalist filly, has won three of her five starts and finished second last time out. Her other run was an 11th when stepping up to the group 3 Vo Rogue Plate (1300m).

She faces another test on Saturday in the ninth, a benchmark 72 handicap for three- and four-year-olds over 1100m. Hoysted rued a poor draw in 17 but was keen for Break Free to gain valuable experience on the road ahead of more campaigns at stakes grade.

Andrew Adkins has the ride on the $10 Sportsbet hope.

“It’s really good prizemoney and there’s obviously not a great deal for her up here now that we’re outside of carnival,” Hoysted said of bringing Break Free south. “She’s a promising filly who still just hasn’t quite really put it all together yet.

“She had that race parcelled up at Eagle Farm last start and then had a wander and a bit of a look around late, and that probably cost her. She just got nabbed in the last couple of strides, so coming back 100 metres in trip, we want to ride her a touch quieter, and with something to chase, she can be that bit more dynamic.

“She’s a filly who’s always had nice natural ability and we’ve had a high opinion of her, and now we’re at that stage where she’s really honing her skills, we thought the trip away would do her the world of good. I just wish we could have drawn a bit softer.

“This preparation was all about get her rating up while she’s still honing her craft, then maybe in another prep’s time, if she keeps progressing, she can aim up into some better races.”

Hoysted hopes for softer ground for four-year-old Deep Field mare Termagant, which races in the eighth, an 1100m benchmark 88 handicap.

She is also third-up but is coming off a failure at home, when eighth in a 1200m benchmark 85. Dylan Gibbons rides the $23 chance from gate 12. Randwick was a soft 6 with the chance of rain on Saturday.

“She was obviously pretty disappointing last start at Eagle Farm,” Hoysted said. “She nearly jumped favourite that day and she copped a rock-hard track, which we know she doesn’t appreciate. She didn’t let go at all on that.

“Last prep she was putting it all together, and we think she’s one that’s still on an upwards trajectory. Maybe down there we’ll get a bit more juice in the track, and the big, open spaces of Randwick will suit her.”